Death's assistant and Fate's helping hand: Dragon Age
by ex-ellent
Summary: Master of Death. A concept associated with the ownership of all three deathly Hollows at the same time. Whoever invented that story deserved to be shot, repeatedly, just to make sure. Harry knew what the reason was behind them, how could he not? He had owned all three once upon a time. Now however it showed him worlds he never had dreamed about. At a bargain price of course.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Seriously, I never thought it would be this long to set the stage for this crossover and I just barely reached the world of Dragon Age, at least in spirit that is. The reason why? I just wanted to try something new for Harry's reason and ability in traveling worlds. Never thought I would write so much, in my mind it looked way less. Maybe someone never thought of it like this? Or maybe I'm just delusional. Whatever the case may be, have fun, and shutting up right about now.**

**Chapter 1: Setting the Stage**

**Or**

**What the fuck is going on in here?**

Being reborn can be a really confusing process. Ending up in a new world you know nothing about, learning about new society's and cultures and trying to blend and not to stand out like a sore thumb can be taxing to your mind. At least Lord Death did let them skip the whole birthing process and the following months and years, which were filled with breastfeeding, full diapers, long naps and teething. Thank the Aspect for small mercies. In any case these were Daphne thoughts on the matter, case closed.

Harry on the other hand fully relished the opportunity's being small and being cared for again. The full diapers maybe not so much but the breastfeeding all the more. Yes, he had a slight breast fetish but who can blame him? As a babe there is nothing more relaxing and fulfilling than being gently hold by your mother, suckling down the tasty milk and smeller her calming scent. You don't believe me? Ask your wife, sister, mother or whoever else had already a child why feeding sessions can take an hour, or even more.

But enough about that, back to the new world aspect and what is going on in general. Harry Potter had once upon a time been a simple mortal with a not so simple destiny. After watching his mother being killed before his infant eyes his life became a gathering of tragedies, or so it seems. Dropped at the front door of the Dursley residence one November night, living with his nasty aunt, uncle and cousin and going to a magic school where his nearly every step seemed to be planned does not speak of a happy childhood, or a healthy one.

There had been ups to all these downs of course, but those were far and in between. Oh yes, don't forget the nearly dying part every year with some of them looking rather strange if you carefully thing about it. All the drama, calculations and tragedy finally accumulated in the last and final death of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort. That does sound like the skeleton of a story, doesn't it? Regretfully the real story didn't have the happy or tragic ending. The tragic ending didn't happen simply because Harry survived and the happy didn't happen because the girl, which should make it happen, wasn't what the hero needed, wanted or expected to be.

So for the next five years Harry Potter felt rather lost. His relationship with one Ginny Weasley didn't stand the tide of time cause of various reasons. Not so surprisingly his friendship with Hermione Granger did continue, mainly because nobody of those two were willing to put what they had in jeopardy. On the other hand Harry's friendship with Ron Weasley more or less broke apart, as did his relationship to the rest of the Weasleys. They seemingly couldn't except he didn't see in their darling girl Lady Potter material.

For the next five years Harry became a recluse to magical Britain and a man possessed to his new found hobby, learning skills and acquiring knowledge. After a night of one or more bottles of fire whiskey and enough self-pity that Kreacher wacked him up his head he wrote down what spoke for him in a positive light, but first a hangover potion of course. It wasn't much. So he wrote down what he wanted and what never wanted happen to him again.

In short Harry was in serious need of knowledge and degrees and should you ask why than the answer is rather simple. Harry needed degrees, magical or non-magical didn't matter, for the simple purpose of being able to freely move through society. Yes, right now he was pretty famous, but how long would his fame last and how many doors would it permanently open for him? Not only doors in magical Britain but in the rest of the world too? So to freely move up, down or sideways in the world he needed degrees.

The knowledge part is tied into the degree part but worthy of being named on his own. Obviously for a degree he needs knowledge and skills, depending on in what area he wanted one. But most of all he needed knowledge because he never ever wanted to be led by his nose again, of course having knowledge would help him seeing opportunities. You can image that knowledge wasn't strictly tied to a certain field like for example potions and physics nut also in politics and how to move in certain circle and so much more.

In essence he not only wanted to learn what his parents should have taught him about the society he lived in but also the one his mother came from, he simply had to. Never again would let himself be led around like sheep if he could avoid it. Thankfully he had in his live enough bad examples of people how something should not be done. So, unlike the godfather he had had Harry didn't simply run of to do his thing but took his responsibility for his godson seriously, much to the enjoyment of one Andromeda Tonks. A small child can be rather taxing to the nerves, no questions.

Don't misunderstand, Harry very much loved his dogfather, no denying that. But even he understood that Sirius was never real godfather materiel, at least in Harry's eyes who took his role very seriously. So, after returning to Hogwarts for his seventh year and sitting his NEWTs Harry Potter ventured out into the world and wasn't seen in magical Britain for the next five years, not seen by the public that is. One of the more important lessons in life Harry ever learned was that friends are a precious thing, so it was only naturally he would stay in contact with them.

In the next five year, with the help of various hired masters and mistresses in their respective field of expertise for one on one lessons, Harry would not only further his magical education but would also acquire a non-magical education which he really needed. The-boy-who-lived acquired many expert level certifications and even masteries, the ones which were acknowledged not only in Britain but in all IWC member states. Surprisingly for him he even managed mastery in potions, which then on the other hand wasn't really surprising if carefully he thought about. Having a hot and sexy Swedish potions mistress with a unique rewarding system did wonders for ones learning drive.

As Harry learned magical and non-magical subjects he came across some very interesting information pertaining magical schools in general. It seemed that there were two general types of magical schools. Those who only taught subjects about magic, like Hogwarts and pretty much all other schools in Europe and a big part in Asia, and those who taught non-magical subjects as well, those were mostly found in the USA, Canada, Sweden and Austria. To help the students keep up with all the school stuff they had to learn some clever potion masters and mistresses developed a potion which tremendously helped with the intake of information.

This 'Potion of Learning' as it is called stimulated the brain in such ways that learning anything non magical and magical theory would be like the student had a predisposition for learning in extreme ways. Of course the drive to learn and making the connections with the information one had learned was still something the person had to do on his or her own, without magical help. It was however a shame the potion didn't help where magic was actively used, like performing a spell or brewing a potion.

So after five years aboard Harry finally returned to Britain, at least officially, with a good bout of anticipation. That anticipation was soon turned to confusion and then disappointment. In general nothing has changed and nothing was learned from the disaster surrounding Voldemort. Even six years later the people refused to call him by name, it was pathetic. Oh, don't get it wrong, some things had changed, but only at a casual glance.

Many laws introduced by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Hermione had worked on, especially those about house-elfs, had so many loopholes for pure-bloods it wasn't even funny. Looking through the drafts of those laws and how newer ones interacted with older Harry could at least say his best friend was on her way to change something for the better. Many of his friends had asked Harry why he doesn't do something to better their community.

He only stared at them with a blank face and said one word, "Voldemort.".

It wasn't like he had no idea how or with what to help. Harry simply didn't see the use in helping a society which doesn't even to help itself. He was perfectly fine stepping back and let those people try and change the system who had the drive to do so. It was only two weeks after being officially back two things happened which changed Harry in a significant way. The first was or rather were three innocent looking items on his sofa next to the fireplace in the newly unsealed and restored Potter Manor.

Coming back home after a day of playing with his godson and talking about everything with Andromeda Harry was rather surprised finding his True Cloak of Invisibility, the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone lying innocently on his sofa. The twitching near his right eye got more pronounced when all three Hollows seemed to pulse with a white light for just a moment. Lucky for him this pulse and the second two yet to come would only revile itself after he died and that was still many many years away.

The second event was one interview in the Daily Prophet. As Harry one morning opened the newspaper and started reading he took at the most unfortunately moment a sip from his tea. The spit take showed him he had a great pair of lungs because he reached the wall, five meters away. Kreacher was not impressed. On the front page was the brightly smiling face of Ronald Bilius Weasley with an exclusive interview about the heroic defeat and everything that led to it of Lord Voldemort.

Harry felt the headache already coming. Shortly after everything had somewhat cooled down Hermione, Ron and Harry had come to the decision to never ever talk about what had happened that year to the press. There were simply too many reasons and too many facts which should better be forgotten and not retold. As Harry read the article a scowl formed in his face and got deeper and deeper. After so many years of knowing Ron it wasn't such a surprise for Harry reading about the heroics of said person, which showed Ron in a brighter shine than it should be, and about not reading the abandoning of his friends in the middle of nowhere for a good part of two months.

What got his blood boiling however, was Ron's careless mentioning of Teddy Lupin in context of him being the heir to the house of Black and the son of a werewolf. Harry didn't need a crystal ball to see the outcome of that. Fact was that werewolf's were classified as dark creatures and therefore could under British wizard law not inherit. That regretfully included children of a werewolf as well. Before it was no problem because no one knew that connection and with Harry's protective hand no one cared to check, but now however it was a different thing.

Eventually Ron saw he had royally fucked up, again, and tried to apologize but Harry would have none of it. The once strong friendship of the 'golden trio' shattered completely after Harry declared they were no friends and Hermione's throwing her engagement ring in his face accompanied with a truly legendary tongue lashing, in the middle of Diagon Alley, before many, oh so many witnesses truly cemented it. Apparently this was the last of many of Ron's stupid stunts which finally drove Hermione to terminate her relationship with said man. Harry never truly knew what happened to Ron after that day and he truly didn't care. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes would be his only connection to that family for the rest of his live.

In the years to come and with his prediction about inheritance laws coming true Harry simply absorbed the Black family name into his own like so many years ago a Potter did to the Peverells, practically ending that line as an independent house for the foreseeable future. Not surprisingly some people weren't so happy about his decision because through that they were effectively cut off from ever inheriting anything. The reason why? To be able to inherit something you need to have an actual blood connection to that family.

And because the Blacks had so many family members over the last six generations that pretty much all major pureblood families' were related to them. Even if said family who married into another family was cast out. The problem now was on a tapestry the Potter family was more or less a straight line. In nearly all cases any and all offshoots of the main family line died either out or remarried into the family three or two generations later and those who had potter blood were not closely enough related for them to be able to inherit anything. In essence Harry may be related to many other purebloods through his grandmother Dorea Potter neè Black but no one was related through Potter blood with him, at least no one to a degree which would matter.

Come to think of it, the last line which survived the split off married into the Longbottom line and that had been some several hundred years in the past. Thinking about it 'the day of a legendary tongue lashing' or 'pulling a Granger' as it was called for a time did have a very interesting conclusion. With Hermione now being single again and free of Ronald 'foot-in-the-mouth' Weasley her live got better and better. As Harry had often remarked Hermione was a beautiful witch and soon she found herself courted by many a men and more than a few were purebloods. Truths to be told not all purebloods were pricks dreaming of the 'good old time' and resented everything new and 'modern'.

Those were simply the ones which screamed the loudest and had the most money. The rest could easily see the benefits of marrying halfbloods or even muggleborns. Of course it helped that Hermione was not only a rising star in the ministry, but also rather beautiful, intelligent and talented. Open minded and intelligent purebloods simply knew that certain things mattered more to preserve the family line than ones blood status, the others simply reaped the benefits by marrying their descends and could pretend they didn't marry beneath them.

After his impromptu holiday at home and watching with humor his best friend trying to get a hold of all those admires and the situation at large Harry decided to move on with his own plan and live, that was being accepted at Oxford to study Biochemistry and Chemistry. It was here that Harry would meet his future wife, again. Sitting at a table in one of the many cafés and going through his materials Harry was lost to the world. Ever since his five year long learning break acquiring knowledge and learning skills had become his hobby and passion. He was however rather startled as someone called his name and looked up.

"Potter?" said really familiar sounding voice with a tint of disbelief.

Looking up and coming face to face with the owner of said voice Harry was pleasantly surprised. It was pleasantly of what he saw and surprising of whom that voice belonged to. Standing before him in all her glory was Miss Slytherin Ice Princess aka Daphne Greengrass. Harry didn't have anything against her, on the contrary. The few time he actual spoke with her had been fruitful conversations and he had learned some truly interesting things about the snake pit.

Now looking at his former classmate he could see time had definitely been kind to her, especially to her figure which only got more womanly. Looking at her face closely however he got a nagging feeling of something until it clicked. Going through his bag a pulled a cinema magazine out and stared at the front cover. He looked at the cover, looked at her, the cover and her again when he finally burst out laughing like a maniac.

Daphne growled at the Potter scion and wanted nothing more than hex him, she started to regret coming here.

"Stop that already" she hissed at him and sat down at the table opposite from him.

Harry did manage to calm down somewhat. At least he wasn't making a scene anymore but he couldn't suppress his chuckling and the mirth Daphne could definitely see in his eyes. He wordlessly showed her the cover of the magazine and watched the rather cute blush adoring her face.

"Who would have thought Miss Slytherin Ice Princess would one day go muggle and become a famous actress, what would your parents say?" It was simply to hilarious for him but immediately berated himself as Daphne face fell at his last comments.

"They don't care, they disowned me." Came the replay with a soft and defeated sounding voice accompanied by a good amount of hurt in her eyes.

After that rocky start both caught themselves, starting with Harry apologizing for his thoughtless comment, and shared stories of how their lives had been. Interesting for Harry was that Daphne seemed to have felt rather lost what to do with herself after graduating Hogwarts a year before him as well. In the end she had went to America to further her education in potions in one of the few magical universities in their world. Much to her parents pride she made her mastery with honors in only two years which based her under the top fifty in the world.

But even after that she didn't know what to do and was one evening spoken to by a talent scout of a film studio while she was shopping in non-magical shops. Confused at first she did show up and found an instant liking to the job of an actress and even signed a one year contract, after carefully reading it of course. Who would have thought her pureblood upbringing in terms of contracts would help her in something like this? At first it were only small rolls in TV shows and even some bigger ones.

That changed however with newest role. It wasn't the role of the main actress but hers was nothing to sneeze at. The critiques rated her acting even better than the one of the main actress. The magazine in fact showed the picture of her in that film where she played the jealous and betrayed female friend which made live hell for her former best friend. It was a triple A romance film with a good portion of drama and tragedy. Daphne's parents however were not amused with her daughter's choice in career and simply disowned her the moment they were told. She hadn't spoken to them ever since.

Right now Daphne was having a break from acting before her next big role and was furthering her education by studying medicine and healing. This was the first time Harry actual heard about there being a magical department at the university but it shouldn't be much of a surprise. Healers should be very open-minded about anything that could help them heal the sick, at least in his opinion.

Over the next four years Harry and Daphne slowly but surely grew together. It wasn't the love at first sight kind of thing and it wasn't a sudden spark which rocked their worlds. They simply grew to first like and then love each other. Friends like Neville and Tracey would later say the outcome had been unavoidable from the get go and could only be stopped by truly live changing events.

For the first year they sought each other out primly for someone to freely talk to and having someone with a second opinion in matters they were unsure. When Harry told Daphne he had a mastery in potions as well they even started to experiment together to create new potions or find better solutions for old ones, a field which both had neglected in recent years. As Harry pulled out a notebook about his mother potion work, one of many such books he had found in the Potter main vault, some of their experiments got rather daring. At one point both agreed to more security measures after a cauldron exploded with a loud bang, took the small shack they were using in his garden with it too.

In second year Daphne returned to her filming so both had to drastically lessen their time together. But thanks to forms of magical transportations Daphne was never longer away than for three days. Aside from that it was business as usual. Harry even tried to date some of the other students but it never seemed to work, much to the hidden and not acknowledged happiness of Daphne. The same was the case with Daphne and her dates concerning Harry.

At the beginning of the third year Harry and Daphne talked and came to the conclusion that it was not healthy to deny the body certain urges and as long as nobody had someone they were free to sate those urges with the other one. To say it with Tracey's words "About bloody time those two at least acknowledge the other ones attractiveness and finally fuck each other". Being friends with benefits truly benefited them, pun very much intended.

At the end of their fourth year Harry got down on one knee and asked Daphne for her hand in marriage, an action everyone else saw coming but interesting enough it was Luna who won the pot – "The nargles told me" -, Daphne simply grabbed her groom to be and apparated away with him in tow. They would not be seen for the next four days. When they returned Harry had a shit eating grin nearly ten meters wide and Daphne didn't simply glow she shined like a star going super nova.

Hermione was not the only one who asked herself what those two did to end up like that, not forgetting them already being friends with benefits who couldn't go two days without shagging each other silly. Lucky for Harry, because it would probably have ruined somewhat his happy mood, he didn't see when the three Hollows glowed again for the second time in his live before going inert.

What followed was every books ever happy ending. In their long life of 212 and 211 years, Daphne and Harry respectively, Lord and Lady Potter made it to six children, fifteen grandchildren, thirty nine great-grandchildren and eighty five great-great-grandchildren. Their only regret was outliving their six children. When asked in his old age what Harrys most treasured memories after Voldemort fall were he said the following.

"Seeing my best friend and her Husband Neville becoming head of the DMLE and Minister of Magic respectively, dragging magical Britain kicking and screaming into a new age of prosperity and going back to Hogwarts as a teacher together with my loving wife and friends are one of my best memories. My most treasured, excluding my wife, family and friends however is my learning of what the world has to offer, a truly remarkable gift."

Harry and Daphne Potter died together in their sleep one day before his 212 birthday, the deathly Hollows have not been seen ever since.

**The End.**

* * *

><p>At least for that part in Harry's rather unusual life but the next part it was nothing if even more unusual. Going to bed with your wife and dying in your sleep with her and next to her is probably an ending many people would wish for. In Harry minds it was perfect, to go on his next great adventure together with his wife was something he only wished for but never hoped to get. The next wish was to see long dead loved ones again, his children, his friends and most of all his parents.<p>

Coming back to consciousness Harry opened his eyes and looked around. Unlike his near death experience this time he didn't stand in a creepy replica of Kings-Cross filled with fog. He stood on an endless white plane with white sky above with nothing in sight, aside from his wife standing right next to him. Harry was pleasantly surprised having a young body again and the way his wife inspected her own and glanced at his said she was as well. Looking at the simple white clothes he wore he could only think that they weren't naked at least, unlike last time he was in such a place.

With nothing else to do Harry simply took the hand of his wife in his own, picked a direction and started walking. Or tried that is because the moment he made his first step a voice behind him made him nearly jump out of his skin.

"And where do you two want to go?" it asked as Daphne and Harry turned around, awaiting the Grim Reaper or something like that, they would be sorely disappointed.

Sitting in an armchair in opposition to a loveseat was a man as normal as you can get. With a wave of his hand and an amused smile on his lips the unknown person invited them to sit down and because of having nothing else to do they promptly did.

Was followed was a rather confusing discussion beginning with himself introducing as the Aspect of Death and explaining what that meant. Simply put the Aspects simply are, they represent every fundamental part of existence and were in truth the first beings ever created. They stood above gods in those universes where they existed and above those who ascended onto a higher plane of existence as well. They were many and each one of them represented one part of the creation as a whole. They simply transcended human understanding.

How Harry fit into that all? Even as knowledgeable and mighty as they were even those beings made mistake. Granted these mistakes never made much an impact in one of the unlimited universes as a whole but they could hinder the purpose those universes were created with. And if worse came to worse the universe in question would be scrapped and remade, but what about Harry? In Deaths words he wanted to try something new so he placed a set of three artifacts in a series of universes and their different realities to look for someone worthy. Harry was simply the first person ever to fulfill those criteria by uniting the Hollows, accepting death as the ultimate end and never really using them after the ordeal, aside from the cloak that is.

He wanted simply someone to fix those smaller mistakes before a domino effect could undo a universe, and doing that was just way to much paperwork for him.

"Then why don't you fix those mistake yourself?" asked Daphne curious, there simply had to be a reason if that being was truly as powerful as it claimed.

"Ah, a clever one, yes, yes … I see my wife really was right, as always" Death mused and looked at her in amusement, "To answer your question it is not allowed."

Harry scratched his head "Why?", he asked.

"What do you think happens when an Aspect and the Aspect of Death no less, one of the Primes not to forget, would walk on mortal plane? I will tell you. If I would do that my sheer presence, even only for a fracture of a second would instantly kill and dissolve anything in a rather large radius. I speak hear in the form of thousands of light years. The nature of the Aspect doing something like this would overload that reality but that is only the small part. The real problem is that our mere presence, even for only just a moment or less, would unravel reality itself and destroy it. You understand the problem?"

Harry could only nod while Daphne may have thought of some problem in that direction but not on that scale.

"Okay, I understand. But what do you expect of me … or us? If you said I was the one picked, then why is Daphne here?" Harry asked in confusion while Daphne pulled him possessively against her, nobody would come between herself and her man.

Death seemed to carefully think about an answer before exhaling "Let's wrap this up. To answer your question about your wife, she is here because my own wife, Lady Life that is, reminded me everything works best in pairs to fulfill a purpose. Death and life, matter and anti-matter, good and evil, light and dark, you catch my drift? Good. Your wife would simply accompany you and be and unpaid helper for me, so to speak of. Or to keep you in line if that sounds better in your ears.

Now, what would be expected of you, simply put I would give you a goal, a contract you have to reach or fulfill and what you do beside that is up to you. It also could happen I send you somewhere without giving you instruction because I expect your simple presence and integration in that world to fix the problem. What you would get out of it? Opportunities, those could be anything from learning more to have chances you never truly had, oh and don't forget the adventure aspect.

To do what you have to do I would let you keep not only everything you ever learned but also your magic, which is tied to your soul by the way. On that you can probably expand on, maybe not now but later. So, … your answer?"

Looking from Daphne to Death Harry ask one question more, the other was a more private one "What kind of Instructions?".

At that Death smirked rather wickedly "Oh, it could be anything, from recovering or acquiring an item to killing a person, no innocents of course."

When Daphne opened her mouth to ask the question she was sure Harry wanted to know Death stopped her with a simple look.

"To answer that question, no, it is not possible. Normally you two would go to your form of heaven and be recycled into the stream. Death and rebirth you know. But because I pulled you out of that you either accept or go straight to the stream. And it isn't like you wouldn't have the chance to meet them." The last part was accompanied by a lopsided smile.

Looking Daphne in the eyes both had a rather long debate what to do. Hermione and Tracey said every time when they saw what they did was creepy to look at but for them it was something normal, being able to communicate with one another with only eye contact. After roughly above twenty Minutes both turned towards Death and said in unison.

"We accept."

* * *

><p>That was how this whole business started. Be reborn into this or that world, fix a problem or two, maybe more or have just some fun. How many worlds is that now? Harry was not sure, something between fifteen and twenty, could be more. The first world he had been dropped in, as a test run so to speak, Harry was again himself, more or less. Growing up with the Dursleys, same as before, being an only child with a scar on his forhead and a piece of some soul inside it, same as before, and getting introduced by Hagrid to the magical world, same as before.<p>

The point where it really differed was he wasn't the boy-who-lived but the girl-who-lived. Yes, being reborn as a girl put the whole situation in another perspective. Some may think why Harry didn't freak out being a girl, the answer was rather obvious. Being reborn as a girl, growing up as a girl and growing into being a woman is totally different to simply being dropped into a fully grown female body. Or for those who want another explanation, gender is a body thing, the spirit and soul ultimately don't have a gender, it maybe has a preference to a certain way of acting and thinking but it still doesn't have a gender. Case closed.

And it wasn't like it happened only that one time. There had been worlds where he hadn't been even human come to think of it. But that is enough of that, back to the world at hand. His job in this world you may ask? He didn't know, Death had been rather tight lipped and smiled like a child getting candy. Lady Life to his dismay wouldn't part with any more information either. Sometimes this job royally sucked.

But now being here he should probably make himself ready. Ah, there was the light at the end of the tunnel. World be prepared, in whatever form he is reborn, whatever gender or race it may be and whatever name he may carry, world be take note. Here comes Harry Potter. Kicking and screaming, ready to take on another challenge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Edit: 05.11.2014, it's still a work in progress after all.**

**A/N: Rating got up to M because it's needed, a T rated story in the DA universe is rather strange anyway, at least in my eyes. I'm sorry btw. As you can see nobody will be truly safe. SO there will be changes to certain parts in the DA story line. Some people will die and some not.**

**Shepard: Yes, the first chapter was rather dry, it went simply for to long.I'm thinking of maybe separating it and writing a short story about what happened to Harry, we will see. It's just there to explain a thing or two.**

**XXXthe GODgood: Yeah ... you could say that. That is if you consider Harry having magic is the same as having super powers. Btw. he had been a doctor once, at least in one of his lives ...**

**Without further stuff, introducing!**

**Chapter 2: The younger years**

**Or**

**Every story has a beginning.**

**9:08 Dragon, Denerim**

Standing in the kitchen and happily stirring a pot full of chicken soup was one small eight year old Harry, no surname. Contemplating his live in this world while the soup was simmering away Harry came to the conclusion that this life thus far was rather strange, even for someone like him. The reason why? First, Harry was a whoreson and a bastard, as far as his parentage was concerned, and second he was living in a brothel. It was definitely not something he ever thought would happen to him.

But beggars can't be choosers so he had to deal with it at least he had it better than most children like him. The brothels he lived and worked in you ask? It was aptly named 'The Pearl' and serviced primarily nobles and other individuals who had the coin. If there ever was a high class bordello it was this. The only real regret in this new live he had until now had been that his mother had died in childbirth. Sometimes he truly wondered if the Aspect of Death got his jollies by placing him with parents who would die before his second birthday or abandon him.

At least that was the case in 4 out of 5 rebirths, meaning in only one out of five lives he would truly get to know his parents. It was really depressing sometimes. But in this case and with nearly all of these lives where he had one or two parents dying shortly after his birth Death had probably picked someone who should have died way earlier and left her alone a while longer for another purpose, Harry. The great Aspect could get real sentimental from time to time, but back to his parental situation. According to Madam Melinda no one knew for sure who his father was but it was rumored it was one of two Arls and a Bann.

His mother had been well liked in the brothel not only by the customers but by her coworkers as well. Mary Green, another whore working at the brother, who was not only his foster mother but also the mother of his love and companion Daphne liked to entertain Harry and her Daughter with stories about her best Friend. According to Mary Amaryllis had been a tall and beautiful woman, with long silky, raven black hair, a heart shaped face, a glint of mischief in her big and ocean blue eyes and a happy smile on her lips.

Mary thought it was a shame Harry did inherit only a little from his mother, the shape of his eyes, the coloring of his hair and the tall build among them. She didn't begrudge him his emerald green eyes, they were actual one of those constants through all of his lives, she loved them. Just looking in his eyes and loosing herself in the beautiful color was one of her favorite past times, her daughters as well. Harry was brought out of his musings as the door from the kitchen to the bar room opened.

Standing in the door, clad in simple brown shoes, brown trousers and a grey shirt was Daphne Green, his foster sister and companion through all his lives. Her icy blue eyes searched his emerald green and gave him a beautiful smile while she put her long blond and silky hair in a simple ponytail.

"What are you making Harry?" Daphne asked as she sat herself onto a table next to the stove the stockpot was on.

"Just some chicken soup," Harry answered with a shrug of his shoulders "there were apparently so many chickens to sell Madam Melinda got her hands on quite few."

"Mhmmm, chicken soup." his friend said with a dreamy expression.

Even after fifteen lives and a really huge number of years Daphne never managed to cook as good as her soul mate. Of course she took every chance she got to taste his cooking which even the Aspects complimented him on it, so good was it.

"So, how as your day so far, found anything interesting?" Harry asked as he stirred the soup and put some more salt into it.

Coming back out of her dream world Daphne rewarded him with a beaming smile which never failed to make him feel loved and needed "I was with mother on the marked looking for this and that. Afterwards we went to a sewer to get some new blankets for the brothel, after that we went to a carpenter to order three new beds and after that we strolled back. Ah, and I finally found the library but it's useless.".

Harry blinked at the last comment and looked at Daphne and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Ah you know, no commoners are allowed in it, only members of the chantry, government, royalty or nobility. How are we supposed to learn more if we aren't allowed to do so." Daphne crossed her arms and pouted, stupid rules and stupid form of society.

If there was one thing that was the same in every world these two ended up was looking for information about said world they were in as soon as possible. Lucky for them the regular customers in The Pearl never seemed the never ending questions of the two children. Templars for example loved to talk about the chantry, chant of light and of the world in general. The nobles, at least those who didn't found the two irritating, talked mostly about politics, who was related to whom and the newest gossip in court. But it was simply only a small part they wanted to know about.

Harry scowled at that "So, we have to find a way to get in there one way or another."

Harry seriously wondered sometimes why seemingly nobody cared about Daphne's and his level of perception and understanding. Don't get him wrong, both didn't parade around they true intelligence or knowledge but you can't easily emulate the understanding of an eight year old child, no matter how gifted in acting you are. Daphne told him ones when a Templar had a discussion with Madam Melinda about the two scary intelligent children. The Madam simply contributed it to the Maker probably having some special plans with them. It seemed mollify the Templar somewhat. But who was Harry to correct heir believes.

"What do I hear about you two trying to get into something?" a voice asked from the door.

Looking in the direction of said voice a bright smile formed on Harry's lips and after thrusting the soup ladle into Daphne's hands he downright flew into the arms of his foster mother. Taking in the form of his mother and the warmth she readily shared with him as she hug Harry close to her the small boy smiled only brighter. Mary Green was a truly beautiful woman, in a womanly way, if that makes any sense. She had wide hips with a sinful behind which whispered promises of childbirth to the male part of her species, full and firm breast which invited men and women alike to play with them and an angelic shaped face with big eyes which welcomed many with a beautiful smile.

"How are you Harry? How was your day so far?" Mary asked her son in all but blood as she lovingly ruffled his hair and cupped his face.

Harry smiled brightly up to her, showing her his beautiful and innocent green eyes, or at least as innocent a child living and working in a brothel can be "Good. The day was okay and only got better with you two back, mom."

Sometimes Harry truly wondered how far the Aspect of Death really went to integrate him and Daphne into the worlds they were visiting. Independent of species and gender Harry for example had in every live emerald green eyes. It was like a trade mark. Should he be human like he was right now he generally looked like his first human form and should he be female in those cases he could be a fraternal twin, just obviously female, same with Daphne and her icy blue eyes and general form. Lucky for her Death didn't seem to change her gender or species when there was a chance to reincarnate her as herself, body wise that is.

Interesting enough this phenomenon didn't only affect them but their relatives like parents and others in those different worlds as well. Mary Green for example could easily be mistaken as a sister or even a twin of Anastasia Greengrass, Daphne's first mother. The tall woman had the same body shape, long and straight blond hair, icy blue eyes and aloof demur as the mother of Daphne Harry met so many lives ago. As weird as it was it gave those two some level consistency and a feeling of security, strange right?

As Harry enjoyed the hug of his mother Daphne stirred the soup and answered her question "We were talking about breaking into the library and raiding it for anything interesting."

The happy way Daphne said that betrayed the seriousness should they really do it. Harry just tried to look like as innocent as possible as Mary first looked at Daphne and then him, examining both. Harry's big, innocent and beautiful eyes were however too much for her and she started laughing. Her bell-like laughter was something beautiful to witness, an opinion many shared with the two children.

Calming down Mary wiped some tears away she had shed while laughing, her eyes still were full of mirth "Ah, okay. Make sure you are not caught and try to come back before bed time.".

Still slightly chuckling Mary first gave Harry than Daphne a kiss on their foreheads "So, I have now prepare myself for work later. See you at dinner in an hour.".

With that she turned and walked away, a happy tune on her lips. Harry scowled at that. He may live and work here, he understood what was their mother all doing to keep them well fed and clothed, it didn't mean he had to like it. However he couldn't help to notice Mary's seductively swaying hips which seemed to have an extra happy sway to it, Daphne of course noticed his staring. She seriously wondered sometimes what was wrong with him.

With a huff she went over to Harry, gave him the ladle back, closed the door and ushered him back to the soup. A lazy wave of her hand and a confundus ward was placed, everyone now hearing them talk would think they discussed the most boring and trivial topic there is. Harry of course recognized the use of that little bit of magic and glanced to the side. What he saw didn't fill him with confidence. Standing there with her arms crossed before her chest, her hip slightly moved to one side and pinning him with an ice cold look was a very unamused witch. Harry knew that demur which Daphne radiated very well. It was the same she had been nicknamed Ice Queen for once upon a time.

It measured you and told you how unimportant and far beneath your actual standing you thought you were you truly was, that you weren't even worth the dirt underneath her shoes. It was quite intimidating, Harry had to admit. Lucky for him he had already developed certain immunity to it, as much as that may help.

"So, are you thinking about bedding my mother now? Am I not good enough for you that you even think about going to women thirty years your senior?" came the rapid questions filled with disgust and disappointment.

Harry's eyes went wide at that, what the hell? He tried to defend himself and even stumbled through his words until he saw a slight twinkle in Daphne's eyes, then he stopped.

As Daphne dissolved in giggles and laughter Harry gave her his most possible deadpan look and dry answer "Seriously? We are only eight years old. Get your mind out of the gutter.".

Daphne only beamed brightly at him "Ah come on, it wouldn't be the first time you know. And as a woman myself, or rather a little girl right now apparently … but that doesn't matter … my mom really has one sexy ass and body."

Daphne smiled and shined even brighter at him "But you are right, we are only eight now. But no harm in making plans for the future ne?".

Harry new that most of the things she said were only in jest but sometimes he truly wondered about his love. But in one thing she truly was right, it wouldn't have been the first time with Harry bedding Daphne's mother, even if that had only happened once thus far. Word of advice, never ever agree to wait for your love in the home of her parents with only her sex deprived mother there. Especially when said mother has access to lust potions so strong to give even an eunuch the hots for a romp, whatever way possible. So be careful, it will save you a lot of headaches.

Harry simply ignored the topic of Daphne's mirth, it would be better that way.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if mother truly takes us seriously with those comments of hers." He said, idly stirring the pot.

"Ah, she does. She took me, last month I believe it was, to the side and had some strong words about our idea of slipping into the chantry and organize a large scale pillow fight in the private rooms section of those lay sisters." Daphne remembered while she poked Harry.

"Could you please stop that" Harry asked with a growing twitching in his eyes.

"What?" the young girls asked with a sweet and innocent voice accompanied with big innocent eyes … and poked him again.

"That! Stop poking me." Harry finally exclaimed and moved out of reach.

Daphne only pouted and looked to the side "Fine, take away all my fun, why don't you.".

"I would hardly say poking me is all your fun." came Harry's dry replied as he returned stirring.

"But it is the most fun. What else should I do?" Harry didn't need magic or any other special abilities to imagine the wide eyed innocent and happy look Daphne had on her face.

No, he was not looking, better this way so he wouldn't succumb to her wiley ways "Please, just … bother someone else.".

The feeling of dread only intensified as Daphne snuggled into his side and purred into his ear with a level of satisfaction it should be outlawed, the shiver of doom down his spine was nearly negligible "Oh, permission.".

With a wave of her hand the ward dissolved and Daphne virtually floated out of the room. Harry was still debating if he should pack his things and move to the other side of the country, as fast as possible, when an answer came to what Daphne was up to.

"HARRY!" came the scream of outrage and humiliation.

Harry looked heavenwards, or rather the ceiling and groused "Why me? Harry is a god boy, damn it!".

**2 years later, 9:10 Dragon**

"Rise and shine!" accompanied with a way to happy voice someone pulled their bed sheets away.

Looking out of the window Harry could only groan the sun had barely risen. Therefore, after some fast and very impressive calculations on Harrys part, meaning he simply guessed, Harry came to the conclusion it was somewhere around six in the morning. Way too early if you ask him and the body lying next to him seemed to agree as it tried to bury its face deeper into the pillow. The mean person behind the way to happy voice wouldn't have any of it however.

"Come on you two, the early bird catches the worm!" Mary said happily as she first kissed Daphne and then Harry good morning.

"Whoever thought of that saying should be burned, drowned, quartered and then crucified!" Daphne mumbled as she tried to rub the tiredness out of her eyes.

"I second that motion." Harry replied, already standing even if somewhat crooked.

Mary ignored their ramblings and looked her children up and down with disapproval and somewhat resignation in her eyes, the reason for that? Both children were stark naked. Don't get her wrong, because of her work she wasn't a prude, on the contrary, and on the other hand her morals weren't as the chantry preached should be. But even she had some believes in decorum and two naked children, soon to be grownups should not sleep naked in the same bed.

While Harry scampered of to refresh himself Daphne was busy making the bed under the judging gaze of her mother.

"Daphne, what did I tell you two about sleeping naked together? You shouldn't do that." Mary tried explaining some facts of live, as far as she was concerned.

"Yes, yes, you explained, we listened and formed our own opinion. Aside from that snuggling with Harry feels way better with skin contact." Daphne answered in a dismissively tone.

Mary sometimes truly wondered how developed these two really were. Don't get her wrong, she loved nothing more than her children but sometimes it was rather strange. For example this situation, all other coworkers of her who had children that age only told how they were either obedient or rebellious. Daphne and Harry on the other hand tended to calmly discuss matters with her and tell and explain to her what decisions and opinions they have formed. Not only did they say why but also how they came to a conclusion.

They talked and reasoned as good or even better as people ten years their senior. Rather creepy if you think about it. Mary truly wondered if all highly intelligent children were like this. At least she contributed their oddities in behavior to their intelligence and perception which was truly remarkable.

"Daphne, please darling, I just want you to help you. Certain behavior is not agreeable to a woman and makes her look like a scarlet woman or …" Mary tried to tell her girl but was interrupted by her Daughters sometimes way to sharp tongue.

"I don't think a whore should …" at that Daphne stopped herself as she saw the brief look of hurt on her mother's face which was fast replaced by a look of detachment that made Daphne wince inside, there was no love and warmth in those ice cold eyes.

Daphne knew the moment she opened her mouth that she would fuck up but couldn't stop herself. She was not a morning person and tended to be rather grumpy. Normally Harry would be there to stop her but he already left.

"Fuck …" she said as her face and more importantly heart filled with shame, what had she been thinking.

"I see, if that is how you see it, very well." with that Mary arouse from her bed and briskly walked out.

"Wha … no … wait, I'm sorry, I, I, … so sorry, please don't leave me …" before Mary even reached the door her daughter crashed into her back and started to sob uncontrollable.

"I'm s-s-so so-so-sorry, ple-please don't leave. I will be good, I swear, I didn't mean to … I-I-I …" Mary was rather surprised at the extreme reaction of her Daughter.

Even if it had hurt what her daughter had thrown into her face now it wasn't important. It made her however rather curious how hard Daphne reacted to her demur and walking out of the room. She knew that her girl didn't seem to like when parents didn't pay attention to their children or even abandon them but this reaction. What Mary didn't know was that Daphne valued her mother to an extreme. The reason was that even after living something around fifteen to twenty lives, Mary was only the second woman she would call with love mother and mean it.

All the other mother's she has had until now, excluding only one of them, either died before Daphne had a chance to truly get to know them or weren't real mother's at all, at least in her eyes. Her first mother for example was mainly interested in being the pretty lady at her husband's arm and that her daughter properly represents her pureblood heritage. No warm hugs, no shared secrets, no enticing discussions about boys, future husbands or whatever, nothing. Even the kisses and encouragements she received had been cold.

Mary simply was the best real mother, not foster mother, she ever had and the thought of her thinking less of her or abandoning her for speaking or acting out of turn terrified her. And it didn't matter one bit she lived so many lives or years already even if all the memories were thankfully muted, not as personal as memories of her current life.

As Harry returned completely dressed he was treated to a rather particular sight. Mary was sitting on her bed with her daughter sitting in her lap, whispering comforting words to the crying girl and rocking her gently back and forward.

"Shall I leave you two alone?" he asked and looked rather uncomfortable.

Before Mary could reply Daphne jumped out of her lap, grabed her own clothes and hurried out of the room, leaving a rather befuddled Harry and an unreadable Mary behind. It didn't take more than ten seconds however before she came back and locked as earnest as she could with all those tear streaks in her face at Harry.

"You are not allowed to let mom leave the room." And she left again.

"What the hell was that about?" asked a now really confused Harry.

Mary regarded him with an expressionless look before replying "An argument between Daphne and me which went really bad, please don't ask further.".

With that the room descended in a strange silence. Harry didn't like it, not one bit.

Thankfully Daphne returned quickly but as soon as she entered the room she shooed Harry out of it.

"Would you give us time alone please? Thank you." she asked, gave him a good long kiss on the lips and shoved him out of the door.

Now Harry was really confused. That kiss didn't feel like one of her spontaneous one's, rather like she was doing a statement. Aside from that she normally refrained doing something like kissing and touching, at least like lovers do, until both had had at the very least a wet dream. No use in rushing it and forcing it. Mary regarded her daughter with a new and intense gaze. The kiss was surprising but not something she hadn't seen coming, even if she had hoped it would wait another two or three years.

What followed was a long discussion of how sorry Daphne was for her inexcusable behavior and the reason why she answered so sharply. After some prompting on Mary's part she even explained why her reaction was so extreme at her mother's leaving, excluding the reborn and lived many lives part. Mary on her part was sorry for the comparison to a scarlet woman and that she should have sought out a conversation when her daughter would be truly awake and not grumpy. For the next four hours mother and daughter would talk about anything with each other, about Mary's hopes and dreams for her daughter and son's future and about Daphne's plans for her and Harry's future.

Even if they both didn't agree on everything, they at least found a new appreciation for each other. When Harry would look into the room, intend on remembering them to eat something he saw mother and daughter happily snuggled to one another and sleeping the time away, both with blissful smiles on their faces. Harry simply scratched his head, went to the kitchen and left their lunch on a chair next to the bed.

Apparently having now a day to himself, after being kicked out of their room Harry was unsure what to do. At least his mother didn't need to watch the time cause today was her day off. So, what to do? Shrugging his shoulders he left the Pearl and made his way to the docks, or more importantly an abandoned warehouse. Having it discovered at the age of eight Daphne and he agreed it would be the perfect place to train, to train not only their magic but bodies as well.

The warehouse was one big room, easily half the size of a football field, probably more. Harry ignored all the exercise stuff Daphne and him had put together and made his way to a circle full of runes. That circle was rather special as it didn't train them in any shape or form but let them record and control their progress in training. Only because they had the knowledge of stiles of fighting, magical or non-magical notwithstanding, or the knowledge to build a nuclear bomb, without preparing your body and train it or collecting and preparing the materials to build the bomb knowledge is useless.

The same is the case with every kind of knowledge which you want to use in some way you still had to train and prepare, be it raising your magical power to be able to throw around the real awesome spells, be it brewing potions to get back your familiarity in the art or even practicing inscribing runes so you don't mess up when it counts. Failures can easily kill you. After getting this month's read on his progress left Harry in high spirits.

Hi magical reserves develop nice as did his body. No use in overdoing it and making all you did useless because you damaged something by doing too much.

Thinking about what to do next Harry remembered he would need a wand for this next exercise. And because running around with a wand on his person could lead to problems Harry and Daphne had agreed to safely lock them away until they were older. A younger body in fact influences the mind and a young mind does sometimes stupid things, go figure.

So Harry concentrated on a very particular tattoo or symbol on the back of his left hand. Certain individuals would recognize it instantly for it was a triangle, encasing a circle and both being bisected by a straight line. Yes you guessed it right, the symbol of the Deathly Hollows. If you think now it was some kind of mark bestowed by Death you will be disappointed. Death had nothing to do with this one, more importantly Daphne had the same mark on her left hand as well.

It was Harry's second or third live he got the idea it would be cool to take some items from one world to another, like books and certain materials for example and after many years of testing and more testing he managed to link a storage space, similar to the one in a bottomless bag, to his magic. Death had said his magic was bound to his soul and therefor followed him everywhere so why not use that? The tattoo was just the physical representation of that storage space, simple as that.

What has been not so simple was to create a way to store items in it and most importantly take them out of it. Cutting his hand open just to get to his things didn't really appeal to him. The solution did sound easy but it was everything but. Now with everything working properly Harry only needed to think or mutter a command phrase, which was a spell and password at the same time. Through this his mind could browse the stored items as you would browse a register. When he found the item he was looking for, a thing of seconds even with millions of items, he only needed to think another command phrase and said item would either materialize in his hand or direct in front of him.

In this case he thought of his mithril wand with a blood core, his blood to be precise. A wand perfectly attuned with him with no inherent preferences, like his first mother's wand preference for charms for example. Today's exercise was rather simple, feel the flow of magic in your body with the help of the wand and direct it. Feel how it flows through your skin, bones, muscles and every cell. How the magic tries to wiggle out of your grasp and return to its state of equilibrium in your body, even if that was already disturbed by the wand. Try not only to press some of it out of your wand tip but also fingertips and other parts of the skin.

This was a rather taxing exercise but it was the best step before going over to wand less magic. Even if that form of magic would never be as precise as with a wand, it would be at the very least more powerful. Shortly before lunchtime Harry stopped and went back. After eating something and making sure he left something to eat next to his mother's bed he left again to resume his training. When Harry came finally back that evening he met his mother and Daphne still sitting on the bed and happily talking, three trays with dinner were on the table in the corner.

"Mom, how and where did you and my mother meet?" Harry asked after they had finished eating and were now snuggling together on Mary's bed.

"Mhmm … let me think. The first time I met your mother was in Amaranthine in 8:95 Blessed, five years before you two were born. I already worked in an upper class brothel over there when Madam Melinda one evening came into the workers dinner room with a new girl in tow, your mother. Amaryllis and I became fast friends and I was astounded at how fast and seemingly without concern she adopted to this way of live and work." Mary said as she pulled Harry closer to her chest.

"Why? I know I wouldn't ever want to work as a whore but if push came to shove I guess I could adapt." Daphne asked and tilted her head cutely to the side.

The older blond gave her daughter an understanding but sad smile "It is because just days prior Amaryllis had lost her family because of some stupid Orlesians. She had been the youngest daughter of some freeholders who lived with other freeholders in a homestead just between Amaranthine and Denerim. So an orlesian noble thought it would be easier to just kill all the people and take the land than talking to them and buying it. Don't forget it was still time of the orlesian occupation, even if their hold on Ferelden got weaker with each passing day."

"No one knows how she survived that massacre and because she was half delirious when she was found nobody took her seriously with the explanation she gave. After two years into our friendship she told me that she had heard a female voice, guiding her out of her home and through the woods. I am not sure if that really was what happened I only know that after that Amaryllis, who had been a rather shy person according to herself, seemed to find something worthwhile in living, ever the excited one with a happy smile on her lips."

At the part about the guiding voice Daphne and Harry exchanged looks. It seemed Lady Live did meddle again in her husband's affairs, with or without his consent they didn't know but probably with, not that he got much of a chance to protest.

"Amaryllis actual found this kind of work rather fulfilling …" that was met with two very disbelieving stares.

Who could blame them through their own experiences in this and other worlds whores and the like were normally one of the lowest of the low. Even high class prostitutes weren't seen as something worthy, as in their lives were rather cheap and easily replaceable. And not forgetting whore houses weren't really nice places. Both Daphne and Harry were easily able to sense the suffering, despair and other such negative emotions thanks to their magical abilities. Because of this both children were very grateful to be born in the Pearl and being raised by Mary. The Pearls was an unusual brothel as the negative emotions normally accompanying such a please were minimal.

And it certainly helped Mary was such a good and doting mother.

"Don't look at me like that," Mary replied with a laugh "I already told you two many times Amaryllis had been a very strange woman in some aspects. Where was I? Ah … yes. It was around late 8:98 Blessed when Amaryllis and me decided it would be nice to leave something of us behind in this live, to give someone our dreams and hopes for the future. So we spoke with Madam Melinda and got her approval to stop taking the anti-pregnancies potions and thus you two were conceived."

"Madam Melinda may tell otherwise but there was only one man who could be your father Harry, a shame I forgot his name. The noble man was actually brought here by his own father to be taught his husbandly duties before marrying his intended. Amaryllis found him adorable of course and for nearly a month that man was her only client. What was his name again? Bryan? Something like that …"

"Then, nine months later you two were born and poor Amaryllis died doing so, I still miss her so very much," Mary mumbled the last part and pulled both children in a hug "Lucky for you Amaryllis and I came to an understanding that if something happens to the other we would take the child in and raise it as our own. A decision I never regretted I might add."

"And how come you went from Amaranthine to Denerim?" Harry asked.

"Madam Melinda took over for her deceased cousin and left the brothel in Amaranthine to her younger Brother, she is planning to let her niece Sanga take over I believe. Anyway, I went along with you two because I asked and the Madam approved. I never really liked Amaranthine so I wanted to see how it would be to live here."

The blond woman looked out of the window and scowled at the dark night "Enough story time, shoo you two. Off to bed with you, it's late enough."

**4 years later, 9:14 Dragon**

It had been a taxing four years for the two children. Not only did their workload and responsibilities in the brothel expand Daphne and Harry also upped their training after their magic cores finally settled and stabilized. Both still could remember horror stories from one of their previous lives about children over using their magic at a young age. Permanently losing your magic, if you were lucky, was then one of your smaller problems.

One major step in Harry's eye had been that they were finally ready for sexual activities. Even Daphne had agreed that their physical relationship was as important as the emotional one. What made the situation even more noteworthy also rather embarrassing was that Mary insisted on guiding her precious children through the steps of bodily bliss.

Her reason "I have to make sure my nicely growing children don't overdo it and that my precious son doesn't hurt in a moment of enthusiasm my precious daughter, a tip from a professional here and there should help too".

Suffice to say both Daphne and Harry weren't able to luck their mother into the eyes without furiously blushing and turning into tomatoes for days afterwards. But it did somewhat warm their hearts at being able to get teased like this and still react as it should be, you would wonder what kind of tendencies and immunities you can develop after so many lives, to experience such normal things is really refreshing.

Some would probably say such amoral thing is disgusting but after so many lives and years some morals become naturally somewhat relaxed, others on the other became even stricter. Of course both made sure the help was given in the spirit it was intended, praise magic and legilimency for that, but let's not dwell on things.

Right now however both children were enjoying the first of a rare few days of. Not only was today the last day of Cloudreach but the next day would be the first of Bloomingtide and therefor Summerday, one of five national holidays, as far as you can have holiday in a world stuck in the middle ages that is. What was more interesting however, at least for children, merchants and thieves was the fact that the day after Summerday the quarterly Landsmeet would take place

As they watched from the wall they were sitting on in the warm midday sun both kids took special note of the comings and goings happening on the main market. Daphne took extra note of all the nobles, especially their behavior. It was simply too funny as some of the so called high class strut around light peacocks in mating season. And those atrocious colors they were wearing, it was hilarious. The growling coming from Daphne's stomach reminded them it was already past noon and both only had had some breakfast.

Daphne scowled down at her traitorous stomach "Meh, stupid stomach. I don't want to move Harry, why don't I stay here and you get me something to eat?".

The winning smile Harry was receiving got her a dry look and voice in return "Yes, send the poor boy out to get you something and complain later because he brought the wrong thing after you said 'Bring me just something to eat'. I know how that works and I'm not interested.".

"Puh … you are no fun anymore." Daphne countered with a pout and crossed her arms under her sizeable breasts.

Stealing a peck from her lips Harry jumped down on the road and looked up to her with a beaming smile, while stealing one or two glances up her skirt.

"Come now, I'm hungry too and in need of serious nourishment." Harry said and held his arms out to catch her from her fall.

Daphne sighed in exaggeration, mumbling something about troublesome boyfriends and refunds and so jumped down as well, in Harry's open arms. Turning around Harry took Daphne by her hand and led her through the crowd in search of a good food stall, there had been one near the gnawed Noble he believed.

As Harry led her along that and this stall and various merchants she watched her surroundings for everything interesting. There had somewhere been a merchant who sold dolls and the like here last year. Maybe he would be here this year as well? She remembered a cute blue doll, maybe she would buy it, if she found the merchant again that is.

Coming out of her musings Daphne remembered an important detail which could significantly delay their meal "Say Harry I don't remember you taking your coin pouch with you and I don't have mine with me so how will we …".

At that Harry showed her a coin pouch she didn't recognize and looked at him with a raised eyebrow "Did you buy a new o…".

Some distance away they had already passed a man started shouting "THIEF! Someone stole my coin pouch! You two imbecilic, what for do I pay you two?".

As the man Daphne heard screaming tore into his guards the young girl gave Harry who smiled innocently back at her a very dry look.

"Really now? What are you doing that for, we could get …" and again Daphne was interrupted by that man who now had a shouting match with another man.

"YOU! That is MY coin pouch. How dare you lowlife steel from me."

"Back off old man, I have no fucking idea what you are talking about. Also this pouch …"

By now the shouting match extended to two more people and attracted quite the attention of the crowd which was used to one or two cries of outrage a day because of theft.

Harry didn't say a thing for some moments and bought them some treats at a stall which sold delicious and warm pastries. Leading Daphne to a stack of crates they sat on top of them and watched the ensuring chaos which by now had five shouting victims and some seriously annoyed city guardsmen.

"Now talk." the blond girl commanded and enjoyed one of her pastries.

"Ah, how you wound me my love, right here you see?" said Harry theatrically and hold his hand above his heart.

The look he received as answer undoubtedly told him that Daphne might not believe him, even with a pinch of salt, the size of several metric tons.

"Yes, just spoil my fun, why don't you." he pouted but was fast pulled back to the ground with a second glance from Daphne.

'_Women are cheats, plain and simple'_ Harry thought and took a bite from his pastry better eat it before it gets cold.

"I did nothing much, I just played the traveling game," a questioning look prompted him to elaborate "by now the first to scream and rage should realize he has an unknown coin pouch as well which surprisingly belongs to the man which interjected himself the last in that lofty group.".

Now Harry looked somewhat puzzled at the coin pouch in his hands "I didn't intend to steal this one, I already had stolen one gold coin from each pouch thus far but at the end I had one extra. So either one of these men tends to carry around more than one or is not as honest as he makes other people believe to be.".

Shrugging his shoulders Harry returned to his treat and watched the shouting match. These guys really had a great pair of lungs and the guardsmen the patience of saints. Daphne was blissfully unaware of what happened on the marked and concentrated on her food, Harry really managed to find the right places. Sometimes later movements at the edge of his vision made him look to the side. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

Standing on a crate lower than his was a little girl, maybe six or seven years old which looked with big eyes at his last pastry. She had shoulder length straight blond hair, big green eyes and a cute face with some freckles. The Mabari puppy in her arms gave him a dog smile as the girl still stared at his food. Harry was sure he could see stars in those eyes, creepy. What was more creepy was that he completely missed the girls presence until now, something like that should not have happened, yet it did. From the quality, form and fabric of her clothes Harry guessed she was part of the higher nobility and what was even more strange was that he could nowhere see someone who could be responsible for the girl.

Harry resigned himself to his fate and hold the pastry out to the girl "Want something?"

The girl gave him the most innocent bright and winning smile he had seen in years and nodded happily. With a soft 'thank you' she carefully placed her puppy next to Harry, climbed onto the crate – under Harry's watchful gaze -, sat next to her puppy and happily munched on her treat.

"Who's the shrimp?" Daphne asked as she peered at Harry's other side.

Said shrimp, in mid bite and a mouth full of food just double eye smiled – how can you eye smile anyway – at Daphne and wink enthusiastically with her empty hand.

"I have no idea. From one moment to another she was just … there." answered a still somewhat disturbed boy.

"Elissa what are you doing there?" a slightly out of breath young boy said, standing in front of the crates and gave the girl a small glare.

The now named Elissa simply ignored him and munched happily on her treat. Delicious treats are simply more important than annoying older brothers, he should know that. While Daphne watched in curiosity Harry gave the new guy a dry look and eyed him up and down.

'_Another noble brat'_ Harry thought _'and from his behavior to the girl probably a close relative.'_

The boy had short dark brown hair and dark colored eyes, was probably something around eleven to thirteen years and wore like the girl expensive looking clothes fit for an upper class noble's child.

"She stole my sweet roll with use of underhanded tricks." Harry said in a bland voice and looked dryly at the other boy.

Elissa seemed to catch on what he meant and gave him the most heartfelt kicked puppy look with big and slightly watery eyes. The puppy next to her simply gave soft whines at him in support of his mistress.

"You see that? Just like that she manipulated me and relieved me of my sweet role." Harry exclaimed and pretended to cry.

The boy rubbed his nose bridge accompanied by a twitching near his right eye, Daphne giggled slightly at the scene and Elissa petted soothingly Harry's head to give him some comfort.

"Yeah, I know how that feels. You have my condolence." The boy said and eyed the two to him unknown children.

'_Probably asking himself where to sort us.'_ Harry mused at the look he received.

"But where are my manners my name is …" the unknown boy however didn't get any further as a concerned voice called his name.

"Fergus, there you are. Have you found your sister? Do you know … oh my." Accompanied by two armed guards a lady arrived with light brown hair secured in a bun, an earnest but friendly face and wearing a long high class dress.

Even if said lady had already a good amount of grey streaks in her hair Harry wouldn't think she was any older than forty to forty five. It seemed that a lot of the now ruling generation had grey in their hair that had probably something to do with them fighting for Fereldens independence. Harry didn't like where this was going, not one bit, for whatever reason he had a slight weariness in terms of nobility.

"Really, Elissa? We just wanted to visit your father and get something to eat, couldn't you have waited?" the woman ask her daughter which was still munching her treat, at least she was nearly finished now.

"It seems my dear sister encouraged this boy to part with his pastry, I was just about introducing myself when you came along." the look of innocent Elissa gave her mother was everything she needed to know.

"I see. Did you at least introduce yourself and thank them?" her mother asked further, which was answered with a rather subdued shake of her head.

"Ah, she did thank Harry for the treat." Daphne voiced her thoughts.

"At least something." the woman said and eyed the children with interest, especially Harrys green eyes.

"Then let me introduce ourselves, as it is only proper to do so." At that she gave Elissa a stern look, which the small girl tried do evade by hiding behind her puppy.

"The girl's name which ravenous hunger for sweets you have apparently sated for the moment is my youngest and second child Elissa Cousland. The boy you already met and whose introduction I apparently interrupted is my oldest and first born Fergus Cousland. Finally I am Teyrna Eleanor Cousland wife to my husband Teyrn Bryce Cousland. May I know your names? I thought I would know all children of nobles around Fergus age by now."

While Daphne found the situation funny and suppressed a snort Harry fought the coming of a major headache. Nobles in his experience are rarely something good. At least he could understand her confusion. As far as he understood the nobles in Ferelden where rather close knit and both him and Daphne did wear clothes fit for someone of lower noble standing. Daphne's amusement got a slight damper however when she saw a slight gleam in Harry's eyes.

"My name is Harry, no surname, whoreson and bastard raised in a brothel, the girl to my right is Daphne Green my foster sister." shortly before the whore part Harry covered the ears of Elissa.

Thoughtfully he looked at Daphne "You know, if I would also be an orlesian elven mage I would be the lowest of the low. Strange isn't it?"

Daphne swatted his head and prayed the Teyrna didn't feel offended. The two guards actual chocked at Harry's little speech while Fergus tried to get his blush under control.

"Ah, whatever," with that he jumped down from the crate, elegantly bowed before Elissa and Fergus and bowed low before the Teyrna "I wish you a most wonderful stay in Denerim.".

With that he left. Elissa looked rather befuddled, Fergus was slightly confused and Daphne gave resigned sigh. To Daphne's interest however the Teyrna didn't seem one bit offended. As far as she could tell at first she was confused, then amused and now her eyes sparkled with interest. That was Daphne's cue to leave. So she climbed down the crates as well, helped the girl and the puppy down too and gave all three of them a bow. With a goodbye on her lips she was ready to leave but Fergus already found his voice again.

"One thing I don't understand. If he has such a parentage how can he …" for the last part Fergus didn't found the right words.

"pay for such fine clothes?" Daphne helped out and Fergus nodded.

"Simple, he made them himself. Goodbye."

With that Daphne turned and hurried after Harry. She did catch up to him near a merchant with many dolls and other toys for children.

"Was that really necessary?" Daphne asked as she browsed the displayed items.

"No, not really," Harry shrugged and pulled her into a hug "I just didn't want to stay there"

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

"How interesting." Eleanor Cousland mused as she led her children back to the estate.

"What is interesting mother?" Fergus asked and looked up to her.

"Tell me Fergus, what did you find strange with those two children?" Eleanor asked and took the hand of her daughter into her own.

"Nothing really, aside from the boys answer at the end, why?" Fergus didn't understand what his mother meant, what was there to see?

Eleanor sighed slightly, Fergus had still a long way to go "What about Elissa? What did you find interesting about those two children.".

Elissa scowled cutely and thought very hard. Every time her mother had that tone in her voice there was something hidden in something she didn't see at first.

"They were really nice and gave me some pastry and they didn't try to shoo me away and … and didn't care … no, they were nice to me when I was sitting next to them and … they didn't seem to care about mother either …" Elissa rambled on Eleanor however smiled.

"Yes, good point." She said and patted her beaming with joy girl.

"Huh?" Fergus was confused.

"Think about it, those two children didn't react in any way to my title and our noble status, like they didn't care. How many children have you met who would do that?"

"I … uhm … none?"

"Exactly and furthermore what do you remember about their behavior, how they hold themselves?" Eleanor prodded.

Fergus thought back for a moment until his eyes went wide "They …They didn't act like commoners. Their whole demur is not something even the rich merchant's children in Highever have. And the bow of both and the low bow of him was perfect, graceful."

"Correct, not something you would find within someone raised in a brothel." his mother agreed.

"Mother, do you think he lied?"

"No, I don't think so. And even if I don't think they would care. On top of that I have a feeling the girls upbringing isn't any different from his." Eleanor said as she led her group through the main gate of the estate.

"Okay, but what now? Are you doing something about it?"

"Fergus, what should I do about what? I just remarked we had the opportunity to meet some interesting children today. It is no crime to behave well."

"Okay … but why bring it up?"

"Why do you think?"

"Mhmm .. So I learn to look for details?" Fergus guessed.

His mother regarded him with a searching look and smiled "Yes, this is one point, maybe you find more."

"What did I hear about interesting children?" came the voice of Bryce Cousland as he walked through a door into the entrance hall to meet his family.

"Later Bryce, we just met some very interesting children near the market.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

Two days later, the second of Bllomingtide and first day of the Landsmeet, Mary Green was walking down an alley happily humming a tune. She had forgotten two three small things at the market this morning and hurried to get them before she stalls closed. She had been in luck.

'_What should I do with those two tomorrow? Maybe cook something for them? I know Daphne adores my steaw'_ she thought as she skipped along the road.

As a sudden pain exploded in the back of her head and her vision went dark the last thought and memory before her eyes was the one of a brightly smiling Daphne and Harry happy to see her.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

The last twenty four hours had been a total mess for Daphne and Harry. The last time they had seen their mother was the day before, shortly before she went on one last trip to the nearest market. Nobody had seen her ever since. He and Daphne did search the way from The Pearl to the market she normally went nearly two dozen times. After that they search every way to every market. Nothing.

After twenty four hours of nonstop searching and asking passerby's if they had seen a woman of their mother's description Daphne finally collapsed into her bed, still sick with worry but too exhausted to do anything. Harry was just on his way back from the docks making a delivery for Madam Melinda he got curious seeing a small crowd near one of the ships. With sick feeling in his stomach and a growing feeling of dread the more he heard from the crowed he made his way to what they were talking about.

"Ah Harry, welcome back did … yo .." Madam Melinda's voice died mid-sentence as she took in what she saw of the boy.

The heavy bags under his eyes told her of a sleepless night, that she already knew, what she hadn't seen however, was the complete blank look on his face and those emotionless green eyes. If it weren't for the tears streaming down his face …

"Did you find her?" a nod.

"Is she … ?" a nod again.

"Do you know?" a shake this time.

With that Harry placed a package on the Madam's table and left the room, on his way to the private quarters.

The moment the door opened and Daphne saw Harry standing in the door way all hope died instantly she laid eyes on his face. Hugging her mother blanket close to her she stood up on shaky legs and stumbled towards Harry, still looking into his face searching for something, anything.

"Please no, Harry, please" it was only a desperate whisper but Harry could hear it well enough.

"No, nonononononon, NO!" she still searched in his eyes for something and more tears went down her face.

"She can't be gone Harry, please don't take that from me. I beg you, please. .. I-I-I … I have been good, I promise. She told me she … she would never leave me, please Harry. Don't … no … this … please Harry."

"I am sorry Daphne." Harry's word killed the rambling stream out of Daphne's mouth dead.

The blond girl leaned her face into his chest and sobbed uncontrollable. Harry simply hugged her against him and cried silently himself.

"What happened?" Daphne managed to disengage for her love and looked into his eyes, one pair of red shot eyes looking into another.

"Don't Daphne, don't do that to yourself." Harry replied.

"I .. I need to know, you have to tell me!"

"No Daphne, no." Harry tried.

"If you won't tell me I will find out another way." With that she slipped a mind probe into his head and watched his memory.

Harry was unfortunately to late in kicking her out before she saw what he had seen.

_Harry walked with growing dread through the crowd until he past the last person. There, in the middle of the crowed where two Templars, three city guardsmen and a chantry sister. The water soaked body lying on the cold cobble stone was all too familiar to Harry. It was like everything got absolute silence as the sister moved to the side and gave him a good view at the woman's face._

_Mary Green, his mother in all but blood._

_The torn clothes, the bruises and other marks told him a good story what had happened as his face went blank and insides ice cold._

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

The next two days went on like a dream. Both children did heir chores and everything else without complaining and even took some extra chores to just have something to do. During those two days all workers and even some patrons came to them to give their condolence. Harry accepted it with a grateful nod and small thank you. Daphne on the other hand just stared at the person wishing them well with an expressionless face and wide eyes until she was left alone again.

Harry was unsure what to do …

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

It was the sixth of Bloomingtide when Daphne was on her way to one of the bars in the area to deliver something. She didn't know what and didn't care as long she had something to do and got out of the brothel. She hated the brothel. She hated how Madam Melinda, the workers, the patrons looked at her. And most of she hated herself for worrying her Harry, seeing the pain in his eyes every time he looked at her. She just wanted to go everything back to normal, to have her mother back.

So now she stood here, inside the Red Baron and waiting for something she was supposed to bring back with her when a conversation got her attention.

"Ah, that blond whore had been the best in a while, I tell you." a patron told his friend who drunk his beer, both totally oblivious about the girl listening in.

"You should have seen her, a real beauty. Long blond hair, steel grey eyes and a rack plus ass to die for, we did the bitch all night long. And the best thing was how that pleaded and begged because she had two brats to take care of, fucking cunt, like I give a shit."

At that Daphne was solely focused on thug one as she dubbed him. The emotions in her were high enough that she didn't eye contact to slip a mind probe into his and went promptly through his memories of that blond woman.

Bingo.

"… how we did her again and again …"

"… that ass I tell you …"

"… the tits were a dream …"

"… Sam even …"

"… and in the end I …"

"Shut up already," thug two hissed at his companion "shut the fuck up or do you want to die? The city guard still hangs murderers and with you spouting that shit … what if someone listens in? What then?"

"Bah … get your act together man."

By that point Daphne was long gone.

When Daphne returned from her delivery with handful of useful information hurried up to her room humming a happy tune. She was still humming and smiling to herself when Harry returned and looked at her intensively. On her bed, summoned through her tattoo from her storage space was a set of dark tight leather armor plus some extras. Harry decided to simply watch and seen, the smile on her face however creeped him out, and that is saying something.

Armed and armored in complete black Daphne pulled the hood over her head to hide her hair, however, when she was just about to place a blank white porcelain mask before her face Harry stopped her and looked intensely into her eyes.

"Don't go with such rage and hatred in your heart," before Daphne could response Harry simply placed a finger on her lips "yes, I know. And because I know I have a right to say this. Yes, they will die, yes, they deserve nothing but pain and death and yes it is your right to deliver. But, don't go with rage, hatred and vengeance in your heart. It won't bring her back."

With his part said Harry leaned forward and gave Daphne a kiss which normally would make her head spin. This time however he put all his love for her in it and most of all, his wish for her to remain safe. The shy smile she gave him before leaving was the first honest smile he had seen in days. It made him smile too.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

Thomas Blackfood had been in high spirits. After he and his friends had snatched that hot woman last week they thought about doing it again. One of the guys was sure he knew what girl she had been begging about and that also was supposed to be quite the looker. Now however he was in a pinch, tied to a chair in an empty and dark room can ruin someone's day. And that someone will seriously pay the moment he got free.

"Thomas Blackfood." the purr in the voice with which his name was said made him shiver, and not in the good way.

"Thomas Blackfood, let us play a game." The definitely female voice said.

"I ask a question and you will answer honestly" what the fuck was that woman thinking, "should you not answer or answer wrong you will feel pain.".

"After feeling pain I will ask again and should you not answer honestly you will feel pain again. Should you answer honestly we continue with the next question. Should you answer all questions honestly I will even let you leave this room. Questions?".

Thomas was furious who did this bitch think she was to fuck with him? Oh he would show her.

"Say, who do you think you are you stupid whore? You know you will pay for this don't you? So better release me and beg for mercy while you can." the man threatened and fully believed to be in a stronger position, despite being tide down.

He knew pain, nothing he couldn't tolerate.

The voice continued unimpressed "So you understand. Let me show you what I mean with pain.".

Pain was everything Thomas could feel and think of for the next two seconds. Pain so unbearable it was mindboggling and it only now truly hit home he was at someone's mercy. The word the voice had whispered before the pain started which still echoed through is mind?

"Crucio!"

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

When Daphne finally returned after her last patron she felt drained and relieved. She had to chuckle. The third of those eight even went with it and told after the pain demonstration only truths, so he was allowed to leave the room. Unfortunately he died by decapitation the moment he sat the second foot before the door, everyone else went insane and simply left where they lay.

Peeling herself out of her armor she climbed as naked as a newborn into Harry's bed. How she had missed that the last days. Making herself comfortable Harry spooned her and pulled her as close as he could against him.

"Finished?" he asked with a soothing whisper as he stroked her hair.

Daphne nodded.

"Good … now, let go." He told here, but she didn't want to.

Kissing her neck her neck Harry told her again "Let go.".

And she did. Daphne cried herself exhausted as Harry simply held her and whispered soothingly words into her ear. When she finally stopped a good two hours later she had fallen asleep.

'_Yeah, she will heal. She will not be as innocent as she was before, but she will heal.'_ Harry thought to himself and finally let himself go.

While he was crying, crying for his mother, for his love and for himself he was only barely aware that Daphne entangled their legs and pulled his arms closer to her chest. Yes, he will heal, tomorrow will be a new day.

With sleepy eyes and a slight smile on her face as Harry fell finally asleep, Daphne looked at the urn full of ashes standing on the chair next to the bed. The socket had a simple but nice inscription.

"_Mary Gree, beloved mother, treasured advisor and best friend, until we meet again at the end of our road."_

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

**Thanks reviwers: Shepard, Shadowsmage, Bill, karthik9, banesith777,XXXthe GODgood, Jeffs87**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Just for those grammar nazis of you who like throwing certain things into other peoples faces, like for example "Your grammer/spelling/whatever sucks, stop writing or whatever". This story, as in every chapter, is in a constant state of work. I know I suck sometimes with certain things, like forgetting a word or whatnot. So if you find an error I didn't correct already use your excess energy and tell me ... **

**Btw: In some parts this is gonna be somewhat dry again ... I'm sorry.**

****=====||=(°.°)=||=====****

****Vatsayayana69: Yes, both have probably a shit amount of talent and whatnot but why should they change something they have no problems with? Aside from that live in the middle ages is not really known for opportunities climbing the social ladder and they were around 10 to 14, problem.****

****ww1990ww: ****First chapter at the end it is explained I believe. So either scrap that reality or try something else. H&D=something else.********

********Kaioo: I don't know why you think what you think.********

********Dovahkiin1503: Maybe not right away but yes.********

************=====||=(°.°)=||=====************

********Chapter 3: Living a live********

********Or********

********Sometimes action takes awhile********

**Brecilian Passage, Green Farmstead, 12****th**** of Harvestmere in 9:22 Dragon**

Like those other two or three times before Daphne was of the opinion being a freeholder was a good life, or as good as it can be in a world stuck in the middle ages. But who was complaining. Ever since she and Harry had left Denerim shortly after her their mother's death they had been traveling from one place to another just to see the land and get a feeling for it. The two of them even had worked for a merchant for around two years before they again began travelling.

That stopped at least shortly after their nineteenth birthday or name day as it was called in these lands. At that point in time the duo had spent a good two weeks in Gwaren looking for a permanent place to set up a live for the foreseeable future. It was there on a Chantry's board they found the information for a place to call home. To be more accurate a Bann was looking for some aspiring freeholders for the outskirts of his Bannorn which interestingly included half of the Brecilian Passage.

To understand what actual is going on one must first understand the arrangement of land ownership in Ferelden. At the top of the ladder is the King and Queen or royal family. In theory all of Ferelden is owned by the crown, but because the crown cannot manage everything by themselves it delegates the ownership of huge parts of its lands to lesser nobles to take care of the land and use it in a manner that benefits them and therefor the crown.

One step underneath the crown on the ladder of nobility the Teyrns and their Teyrnirs. In modern day Ferelden there are only two Teyrnirs, Highever in the north and Gwaren in the south.

Original Teyrns arouse from Banns, a step on the ladder underneath them, and grew powerful enough to move other Banns to swear fealty to them. Before the unity of Ferelden by King Calenhad there used to be many more Teyrns but they were downsized as a consequence of his war for unity. Both are ruled by Teyrn Bryce Cousland and Loghain Mac Tir respectively. Just like the crown the Teyrns are not able to manage their lands in an efficient manner all alone and just like the crown divided most of it into smaller parts and gave them to lesser nobles to manage them.

Now two steps beneath the crown we have the Arls. At one point in time the Teyrns started to elevate a Bann and gave them an arling which essentially meant they were given command of a strategic fortress or city which the Teyrn cannot oversee directly himself, that makes of course the Arls more prestigious than Banns. Normally only Teyrns have Banns sworn into their service, however there are some exceptions to this rule, like the arlings of Amaranthine and South Reach.

The next stop on the ladder we have the Banns which are the most numerous of the land owning noble class. Interesting to note is that not all Banns are sworn in service to an Arl or Teyrn, far from it. A prime example would be the Banns of the Bannorn. The Bannorn, note the capital 'b', is a collection of bannorns, the demesnes of Banns, in the middle of Ferelden, perfectly encased by the Imperial Highway to the north and south, the Calenhad Lake to the west and Denerim to the east.

These Banns only answer to the crown and they are as unpredictable as you can get in Ferelden. No sane royal would try to impose new laws, improve the country or declare knew taxes without at least half the Bannorn behind him. Because of its fertile plains the Bannorn is literally the breadbasket of Ferelden at large and even if the Banns are in constant struggle with each other, there had been fought a war over one apple tree - sadly the tree didn't survive -, they closed ranks really quick against anything trying to challenge them.

The last step on the ladder of nobility is occupied by the knights. Knights are minor nobles usually sworn into service of another higher ranking noble. Like the other nobles they can also be landowners themselves but most are not.

Underneath all these nobles there are the freeholders, the direct owner of farms, mines and other such things. Most land in Ferelden is owned by these freeholders and these are the ones which produce everything the land at large needs. To become a freeholder there are two ways. The easiest way is to simple inherit the land from your parents and keep it going. As a second possibility is it to purchase a plot of land from a noble who has land which is for whatever reason not occupied.

The moment a freeholder has purchased a plot of land it rightly belongs to him or her and only goes back to the noble it original came from with the death of said freeholder and now one to inherit it. The freeholder system in Ferelden is in comparison of the serf system in other lands unique. Not only do the freeholders own their own lands but can swear fealty to any noble they want, normally to a noble who's fortress is the closest.

Of course this system does have its own problems. Because the freeholders are able to freely choose their own liege lord, even if the relationship between freeholder and noble is more of a business contract where protection is traded for goods or coins, the nobles are able to court freeholders and entice them away from their liege lords and into their own services. Through this practice there had been fought many wars and many blood feuds had been declared, especially in the Bannorn.

Of course there are freeholders who don't have a direct liege lord, but those are far and in between. These freeholders normally band together in smaller settlements which then as a whole is responsible for the lands they are managing and the taxes they have to pay. And this is one of the reasons the land is broken down into smaller more manageable parts, taxes. The royal tax collectors simply don't have the time to collect from every single freeholder, they normally only collect from the Teyrns, Banns and Arls without a noble above them and those few freeholder settlements without a noble above these.

Therefor the nobles who have other people beneath and sworn fealty to them are responsible not only for their safety but also for the collection of taxes which then they have to present to the royal tax collector, minus their own part of course, with their own taxes. What Daphne found most fascinating in Ferelden was that the society showed similarities to England from the early middle ages until the end of the early modern period in all important aspects, like the economy, political system, the taxation and many more.

For example the average peasant who worked on the fields of their noble lords or some freeholder was not serfs, unlike in middle age England. Meaning they were not part of the land and were therefor treated more human than you would expect in such an environment. Furthermore thanks to knowledge of their ancestors like the Avvars and therefor the Alamarri the people of Ferelden had a basic understanding of how to avoid plagues and that it is really stupid to contaminate ones water with their waste.

So it had been three years ago, five years after they had left Denerim that Daphne and Harry settled down on their own farmstead as freeholders. The price for the land had been very low, all things considered. The reason why was that the Brecilian Passage was regular plagued by bandits and the place they now lived was near the Dalish traveling routes. Harry and Daphne of course didn't really care about one or the other, six intention based wards were enough to keep them rudimentary safe. And those foolish enough in ignoring the compulsions not to go near would have the questionable pleasure of meeting a not amused Harry or Daphne.

The farmstead was in comparison to others rather big with a two stories tall main building with a twenty meter length, ten meter width and eight meters high, two barns, one to each side, of ten meters width and forty meters length and fifteen meters high completed the picture of buildings. Three hectare of farmland gave at least Harry enough space to experiment and use his energy for whatever he wished for. Aside from that farming with the help of magic is ridiculous easy or at least can be, however a simple schedule was in Daphnes experience as good as helping along with magic.

Where was Harry anyway? With a sigh Daphne placed a book about the Fade back into its shelf and left the room. As she went through the top part of the house she mused about some oddities and other such things she and Harry had picked up over their lives. For one there was their habit in building their home the exact same way, at least when they had the space that is. It gave a good feeling of security, no questions. One other thing was Harry's insistence of having much space. Normally you would think a two story tall farm house, styled somewhat after ranch houses found in America, would be enough for two persons and all their stuff.

On top of that the two big barns should give enough space as well. Amusingly one of the barns was already quite full as was the house, meaning no unused rooms and obvious empty spaces. If she remembered correctly the one barn was filled with huge amounts of wood in form of ten meter long logs and many sacks of wheat. And don't forget all the other stuff like ingredients, tools and even a big wagon. Shrugging her shoulders Daphne left the House and went to the barn to her left.

Opening a side door the young woman looked inside and called "Harry?", no answer.

Looking around Daphne noticed the emptiness of the two horse boxes maybe he needed them for something?

Scratching her head she closed the door and went to the other barn. Taking a quick look at the sky Daphne guessed it was somewhere around 3 to 4 pm and in a good four hours it would be dark. Shaking her head she wished it would be summer, not because of the warmth but because of the sunlight. It was so much more convenient to have sunlight from early in the morning until late in the evening.

Opening the other barn Daphne stepped inside looking for a clue of her husband. Normally they told each other what was to do and who would do it but today she had no idea if there was anything to do. It was the beginning of the winter by the maker. The crop had been harvested, processed and packed into sacks, the fields had been already prepared for the next season, at least two of the three, the tools had been sharpened and repaired and the wood …

Looking about Daphne noticed the lack of their wagon and a good amount of wooden logs. Some six years ago Harry had found a sort of wood in the Brecilian Forest he had never seen. So long it was still a tree the wood was as flexible as your average hardwood and weighted as much. However if you cut it down and stored it for a year the logs would become as hard as iron without losing flexibility or gaining weight. Ever eager to learn something new Harry build the House and every other building with that wood and later started to experiment with it.

Having collected some seeds from these trees he had planted them at the edge of the fields, poured some special potions on them and grew them with his magic. So within three days they had several dozen of fully grown trees and these were in form of ten meter long logs neatly stacked on one end of the barn, all one hundred and twelve. On the other side there were the sacks of wheat, several thousands of them, clearly separated in two stacks. One stack, the obvious bigger one was their own, accumulated over the years of producing more than the needed - the amount their farmland produced compared to others was ridiculous high -, and before that was a smaller stack destined for the coming tax collector.

All in all the this barn was primary used to store wood, wheat, tools, farming equipment and other things you will need on a farm. Thanks to the missing logs and wagon Daphne finally remembered Harry was to turn a good chunk of wood into charcoal. Closing the door and looking around she stopped some white smoke coming from behind the main house and off she went.

From early in the morning until now Harry had been working on three charcoal piles made out of fifty tons of that strange hard wood, each pile that is. He already had turned smaller parts into charcoal just to see if it was any different from the one made out of familiar hard wood. Oh boy was there an extreme difference. Not only was the reduction of volume rather low, round about ninety percent, but also the reduction of weight was less than it was with other woods, only to around sixty percent.

For comparison, normal hard wood turned into charcoal without industrial means is reduced to fifty percent of volume and maybe a quarter of weight compared to the wood it had been before. The difference in the amount it yielded after being processed was already very interesting and worthwhile but the kicker was simple the yield in energy generated by that charcoal. Compared to charcoal from other forms of hard wood the charcoal from that to Harry unknown hard wood not only burned more than thirty times longer but also six times hotter.

Therefor this charcoal was perfect for heating and to work a smithy complete with smelter and such. As he was happily tearing down the second charcoal pile and separating it into piles of charcoal and piles of charcoal dust Harry heard the steps of his wife coming from the house. Wondering what his dear wife wants Harry placed the shovel in his hands against the wagon and took a break.

"Harry, why don't you use magic for this kind of work?" wondered Daphne as she stood next to her husband and gazed at his handy work.

"Because it would be boring, I already used magic to control the process within the charcoal piles." Harry said with a shrug.

Why should he do everything with magic? It wasn't like Daphne herself was using magic for everything, far from it, but she was using magic for nearly anything that would take too long with normal means. And turning wood into charcoal was firmly in that category.

"What are you doing out here anyway? Not that I'm not grateful having my beautiful wife in my presence but I remember you telling me it was too cold for you to come outside." Harry said and looked meaningful at her thick clothes.

He himself was only wearing his thick leather boots, simple woolen trousers and a woolen shirt. It did not have the best protection against the cold in this freezing temperature but the warming charms and physical activity helped well enough.

"Maybe I had just a strong longing for my husband?" Daphne answered and blinked with huge innocent eyes at him.

"Yes … sure." Came the dry reply "Don't call me ungrateful but somehow I don't believe you.".

Daphne pouted at him "You are no fun. Fine, I was bored … and I wasn't where you were so I came looking."

"If you are bored you could either help me … without magic that is! Or you could visit little Neriah." Harry said and reached for the shovel again.

It wasn't like his wife was lazy in terms of physical work, she definitely was not, however she liked working in the sun and warmth so much more than working in the cold. The cold made depressed, it literally sucked not only her happy mood out but also her tolerance for stupidity, so it was for Harry not very surprising what she chose to do. In the span of several seconds her form started to shine and shrink until it took the form of one of her spirit animals. With some powerful flaps of her wings the majestic bird took flight and with a flash of light it disappeared.

"Now … how should I take it that my wife jumps at the prospect of spending her time with a little elf girl instead of helping me?"

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

Without being noticed by anyone in a flash of light Daphne appeared at the top of a tower which sat lonely on an island at the top of the Calenhad Lake. With a simple tip of her finger against the door Daphne unlocked one of the only two doors leading into the Ferelden Circle of Magic and entered without anyone being the wiser. She and Harry had been at the Circle many times before, every time carefully hidden by spells which prompted everyone to simply ignore them.

Going along a small corridor and down some stairs her way ended at jet another door. A simple spell told her that the room beyond, called the Harrowing Chamber was empty. So making her way from the maintenance corridor to the door leaving to the level below repeated the spell from before, this time however it clearly showed a single Templar standing guard before the door on the other side.

A silencing spell at the door helped opening without being detected and a simple confundus in the back of the guard standing Templar made extra sure the Templar would ignore the door for the moment. Leaving the area Daphne made her way to the library, she even caught snippets of interesting conversations along the way.

"Are you absolute sure about this information Uldred?"

"Yes Irving, there are no questions about these boys dabbling in blood magic."

"To create and manipulate fire you have you not only have to have a tight grip on your magic but also on your emotions, can you tell me why?"

"Because fire reacts to my emotions?"

"Is that an answer or a question?"

"Did you hear, Anders escaped, again."

"Really? What would that make his third successful attempt? How did he do it this time anyway?"

"Successful? He is successful if he stays free as well. I bet we will see him again in about two weeks. This time he actual jumped into the lake and swam away and thanks to that all outside activities for apprentice's are canceled for the foreseeable future. Finn is actual the only one happy about it, that stupid prick."

"Daylen you have to help me, I have no idea what to with that. I'm useless, damned!"

"Good Maker, what is it this time Jowan?"

"So, what do you think about that sexy hot new enchanter? What was her name again?"

"Her name is Leorah and by the Maker shut up. Simply do your guard duty, idiot."

"Asshole."

Arriving at the library Daphne plucked some tomes about the school of creation from the shelves and settled into a seat in the corner. Not seeing her little elf friend Daphne started to read and compare what they taught about healing here to what she knew about healing spells herself.

"Daphne!" came a good hour later the excited voice of Neriah.

Said blond woman looked up from her tome and smiled down on to the little elf girl who was about to bounce around.

"Hello Neriah, how are you this day?" Daphne asked and petted gently the wide grinning elf's head.

"Oh, I'm good. How are you? Where have you been? What did you do? Why did you stay away for so long? When …" came the rapid questions, including anything the girl could think of.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

It had been two years ago when Daphne and Harry had first visited the tower to get information on magic in this world. While Harry was busily reading what he could find in one of the senior enchanters private library Daphne choose to come down to this library and like now she sat herself onto a chair in the corner. Little Neriah had been just eight years old and was about to catch some books to learn about the primal school when she noticed a young woman sitting in the corner and nobody taking note of her.

Her curiosity awakened Neriah looked closer at the woman she had never seen in the tower before. She was tall, long blond hair and expressive steel gray eyes. The little elf just stood there for about twenty minutes staring at the woman when said woman stood up, placed her reading material back into a shelf and went for the door leading upstairs. As the woman passed Neriah she gave her a pet on her head and moved along. Neriah stood confused for a moment before she placed a hand or her head, where the woman had petted her, looked at her hand, placed it back on her head, looked at it again and blushed. Never ever had a pet on her head felt so good, not even when the First Enchanter did it.

It had been such a warm feeling that Neriah wondered if she would meet the woman again and if she would pet her head again. She actual blushed even more at that thought. For the next five times when Neriah was aware the beautiful young woman was in her corner again she would some five meters to the side and watch her. Every now and then she would puzzle why all those templars and enchanters would ignore the woman and depending how near she stood by her even herself.

It was when she had a lesson about spirits and demons from the fade that she asked the teaching enchanter about other special beings. After some prodding and dodging she finally confessed that she saw sometimes a woman reading in the library nobody but her seemed to recognize or even acknowledge her presence in any way. What followed was unlike she had ever seen. A beemaster would probably compare the reaction that followed with a disturbed hornets' nest.

Templars started to turn the whole tower upside down, searching for an unknown blond woman. Neriah was even called before the First Enchanter Irving, his most trusted senior enchanter Uldred and Knight-Commander Greagoir. Those three questioned the little girl for hours on end to the point of exhaustion on the side of said girl. Neriah didn't know who but she had heard someone say something about blood magic and demons as the three had one of their hushed conversations with her still in the room.

That was the point she became terrified. In the end they let her go but she was strongly encouraged to report the moment she saw the woman again. Nariah inspecting her shoes mutely nodded in understanding. Six days later the elf girl saw the woman again, sitting in the corner and reading a book about something. Neriah promptly turned and ran to the First Enchanter, literally crashing not only throw his door but also crashing his meeting with the Knight-Commander.

No five minutes later the First Enchanter, the Knight-Commander, six Templars, three senior enchanters and little Neriah were standing between two bookshelves and a corner with a chair and small table they were encasing.

"So, I see nothing. Does that woman still sit on the chair?" the Knight-Commander said with clear skepticism in his voice and eyes.

Neriah mutely nodded and pointed at the chair "Yes, she is sitting there and actual studying you Knight-Commander." the little elf said with a subdued voice.

"How interesting, I also cannot see anything what shouldn't be here, Greagoir?" Irving said and looked at the Knight-Commander.

"It looks like there is now other way. Apprentice, move half the distance between here and the chair … yes. And now move to the said … that's enough." Greagoir said and looked at three of his men. "Do it."

As one two Templars took a small step forward, leaned their upper bodies slightly back, spread their arms apart and looked up to the ceiling. Not even a second later Neriah heard the telling sound of two holy smites, one crashing into her and another crashing into the chair.

As Neriah collapsed onto the ground in pain she noticed at the edge of her blurry vision that the woman was still sitting in the chair like nothing happened and watched the little elf girl in concern. Now that she was lying on the ground the third Templar stepped forward, unrolled a tome and started chanting. After he completed the five words he had to say a wave of magic was expelled by the tome and washed not only through the room but also most of the lower levels of the tower.

Irving and Greagoir were following everything what happened with a keen eye. From how Neariah reacted to how the chair was being destroyed nothing happened without them noticing. And with somewhat reluctance and relieve nothing further happened after the Litany of Adralla did her thing.

"Didn't I say it was probably just the tricks of a very imaginative mind?" Irving mildly asked as he studied the conclusion of their little experiment.

Greagoir just grunted in return "Fine, whatever. I have better things to do than standing around and being led on a wild goose chase by the imaginary friend of some uppity apprentice."

With that the Knight-Commander turned around and left, taking his templars with him. Uldred left with an unreadable look on his face as well, not even acknowledging what had happened here.

Irving shook at the reactions of his associates his head and helped Neriah back on her feat "I have to apologize for your rather ruff treatment Neriah. But there had been voiced some concerns and we had to absolute make sure. How are you feeling?"

Neriah looked up to the First Enchanter and rubbed her head, "'m headache."

A small rejuvenation spell from Irving solved the problem "There that should help you. I advise you to go to bed and take the rest of the day off I will talk for you to your teachers."

Neriah nodded dutiful and looked at the chair.

"Say, do you still see that young woman?" Irving asked chattily and looked at the young girl with a twinkle in his eyes.

Neriah just nodded.

"How remarkable an innocent and imaginary a young mind can be," and with that the First Enchanter left.

"What in the Maker's name were you thinking?" asked the unknown woman.

"That is a question I would like to know as well," said a young man with messy black hair and green eyes standing behind Neriah and looked first at the blond woman and then at the little girl.

Neriah said the first thing which came to her mind, "What the heck?"

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

Since then the little elf girl had two personal and very good friends she didn't need to share with anybody. After some introducing and answering some questions with simple explanations Neriah learned that Daphne and Harry were mages using a form of magic completely different to her own. According to Daphne and what she had gleamed so far from the books normally a magic user could wield the power of magic because their soul had that special connection to the fade.

Through this connection mages not only were aware when they dream but also gave way to the magical energy which traveled from the fade to the mages so they could use it. That was the reason why it took a) so long to naturally fill the mages reservoir again and b) why after a good night's rest they were refilled again. Lyrium Potions on the other hand worked like a crowbar. The lyrium forcefully opened the connection to the fade to the maximum for a certain duration, depending on the potency of the potion, before the soul clammed it down again to its normal little stream.

Daphne and Harry on the other hand didn't have this connection to the fade but had their magic cores which were tied to their souls. Not only produced their souls magical energy on its own but the core also filled itself with the ambient magical energy nature itself gave of. This difference showed primary in the way their magic worked. Magic used by these mages was like swinging a huge battleaxe as it was simply more potent than Daphne's and Harry's, however the mages never had learned to use it really efficiently, they never learned to efficiently control it.

Even healing was more about flooding the whole body with healing magic than concentrate it were it was supposed to go. Only high level healers showed some form of actual ability to direct said energy in any form with any moderation. The potency in that kind of magical energy at least explained why it was so reactive and why battles between mages tended to be rather explosive and volatile. Their own magic was in comparison like a scalpel to these mages battleaxe.

That didn't say Harry or Daphne couldn't deal out any kind of magical mass destruction, they could. It was just that their magic was better suited for small scale use. Ove the two years primary Daphne had diligently copied nearly the whole library on her quest for knowledge and useful information. She even had learned heaps and heaps from the small elf girl, even if it was mostly gossip about various things and other things she had heard. After their seventh visit Harry stopped his visits to the Circle altogether.

The reason was his first real encounter with a Tranquil and the explanation what had happened to her and why. Because of his Avatar of Death status Harry was able to for a lack of better word 'see' a person's soul and what he saw seriously disturbed him. Turning a mage tranquil does seriously damage that person's soul, or at least these parts which you could manipulate. Because the soul of a mage enables him to visit the fade and receive magical energy through this connection it is a serious offence in the great picture to cripple someone's soul just to render that person tranquil. Better kill them outright, much more merciful in his opinion.

Both of them had even thought about it if it would be a good idea to do something against that barbaric practice. In the end they decided against it. Harry could still remember in all colors of the rainbow his ninth reincarnation where he was actual encouraged by Lord Death and Lady Life to help humanity. In the end both acknowledged that you can't help anybody and can make the situation seriously more complicated and serve when you try to help. Being ten thousand years encased on a golden throne seriously discourages anyone from any tendencies in directly helping people on a larger scale, it definitely freed him from his helping people syndrome.

Coming out of her musings Daphne patiently answered all the question of the little girl. No they didn't forget her, yes she will try to visit more, yes she would practice with her magical theory, she and Harry were fine, and money more questions were answered. For the rest of the day one girl and one young woman were braving one of the Four Schools of Magic, Primal. Even if Daphne would probably never be able to use the theory the same way normal mages could she at least learned enough to help her transfer spell knowledge from one magic to another.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

While Daphne was off playing in that Circle of Magic Harry was just finished with the third charcoal pile and ready to continue with whatever he wanted to do. Having moved the wagon next to the barn with all the useful stuff he busily unloaded all those sacks of charcoal and charcoal dust. He left the last ten sacks of charcoal on the wagon and put ten sacks of wheat next to them. Looking from the wagon to the barn Harry shrugged his shoulders and went inside again.

Climbing on top of the stack of those ten meter long hardwood logs he stuck six hooks into one of the top logs. Each hook itself was attached to a chain which then was attached to a chain block secured on rails under the roof. After the log was finally on the ground he broke it apart with his axe into smaller billets for easier transportation. Most of these billets were left in front of the stack of logs three however he placed on the wagon, maybe someone in the next village new what kind of wood that was.

Seating himself onto the wagon he drove it along a seldom used rood through the Bracilien Forest which would take him the fastest to the next village. All in all it was a good journey even if somewhat lonely. Having one eye on the road and a second constantly on the lookout Harry hoped he would be at the next village, a place called Wood Green he believed, before it was complete dark. Wrapping himself into his travelling coat because it was really getting cold now, or maybe the warming charms just gave out, Harry mused if he should take out one of his books and a candle from his backpack.

His musings however came to an abrupt halt as just after one hour traveling three Dailish elves stepped out of the wood work, weapons drawn and arrows notched.

"Hold shem!" one of the elves said, probably the leader, "What are you doing here?"

Pulling the hood of his cloak back Harry watched these Dalish with slight amusement showing in his eyes. There were three, two males and one female dressed in brown and dark green leather armor plus cloaks, probably against the cold. The one who spoke looked at him with dislike and distrust, the other male looked balefully while the face of the female was blank. They were definitely not a happy lot.

Looking at the three elves with an open and friendly face Harry simply ignored the rude tone "Ah, I was just on my way to Wood Green to trade some things."

"If that is so, why don't you use the main road like everyone else of your _kind_, shem?" the elf spoke the word 'kind' like it were something disgusting as the other two started to slowly circle him.

"So? This is simply the shortest way. What is your problem anyway?" oh Harry had some ideas what his problem may be, ranging from a general dislike to humans to having something unpleasant stuck in his arse.

"What my problem is shem? My problem is you and all of your misbegotten kin…"

"Shut up Thiadon." the female Dalish interrupted the other one, never taking her eyes of Harry, "And you shemlen came too near to our camp, what do you want?"

In the end it was decided by the elves that Harry shall be brought before their Keeper to receive judgment. Harry just went along, not only because he was curious about the Dalish but also because he didn't want to make a fuss. In the end the Dalish Keeper of the Sabrae Clan Marethari decided that the clan should pack their things together in the coming days and move to another place. Harry himself was allowed to move freely but under the watchful gaze of the clan's hunters.

He was curiously watching the clan's master craftsman when he realized what kind of wood Master Ilen was handling. Hurrying back to the wagon he took one of the wood billets, his bow and went back to the master craftsman.

"What do you want shemlen?" the master craftsman asked in a matter of fact voice.

"I would like to know what kind of wood that is in my hands. It looks familiar to the wood you are working on," Harry answered and dropped the wood billet on the master craftsman's table.

Master Ilen put his tools and the piece of wood he was working to the side and took a good look at the wood billet on his table "That is good wood, shemlen. It is called ironbark and in the hand of a good craftsman it can be tunred into weapons and armor alike, it can be even stronger than steel. A nice block of ironbark, would you willing to trade it for something?"

"How about you knowledge how to craft it, of course I would trade more than that small bloke for your knowledge." Harry asked the owlish blinking elf.

"That … I have to talk with our Keeper. To learn the art of crafting wood is not something taken lightly and you would have to trade far, far more ironbark than that. Mhmm … may I see that bow of yours?" without hesitation Harry gave the master craftsman his English style longbow made out of ironbark.

"Yes, that is good craftsmanship. Did you make the bow on your own?" Master Ilen received a nod, "Then you are definitely skilled in the art. I just don't understand why the wood of the bow like the billet is light teal in color and not like normal light blue, strange."

In the end Harry was allowed to learn from Master Ilen the art of crafting ironbark wood, in exchange for six ten meter long logs. In Harry's opinion it had been a good deal and so over the next two weeks he threw himself into learning to craft with ironbark. Master Ilen and Harry even exchanged some ideas and tested different ways to craft the wood. Harry supplied happily his own ironbark for their experiments purely by accident they even found a way to temper it like metal above a cold flame.

Over those two weeks where Harry went every morning to the Dalish and every evening back home Daphne took charge in managing their home and give the tax collectors their share, one fifth of the harvest for the crown, one fifth of the harvest for the Teyrn, one fifth of the harvest for their Bann and one tenth of their earnings for the chantry.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

**Brecilian Passage, Green Farmstead, 20****th**** of Haring in 9:26 Dragon**

Daphne was currently sitting under the canopy on the front of their home. A makeshift fire place, a round steel bottom standing on three footholds and carrying a metal grate in form of a cylinder, to her left filled with burning charcoal gave enough protection against the biting cold. As she was currently patching some of their clothes up Daphne listened to the rhythmic sound of a hammer hitting metal.

Harry himself was standing at an anvil next to a forge and hammering away at a white glowing rod. The smithy was situated under a canopy next to the left barn and had an anvil, a forge, grindstone, a workbench of hardened steel and a smelter. At the side on a makeshift wall extending from the barns were several tools on racks and shelves like pincers, tongs, hammers, molds, chisels, axes and others in many sizes, materials and different form.

He was just contemplating if he she turn the metal into a spring or something else he needed to repair the wagon when he noticed movement at the edge of his visual field. Daphne looking up curiously from her because Harry stopped hammering frowned when she saw what looked like three horses and two riders coming along the road in their direction. Looking from the unknown riders to her husband she noticed Harry had already placed his tools back and stepped out of the smithy and went to great them.

As the riders came closer Harry spotted something or rather someone clothed in a thick traveling cloak sitting behind one of the riders. The person without the extra baggage was guiding the third horse.

When Harry recognized the one rider pulling the other horse along he got curious "My lord Rockwood, how can I help you?"

Thomas Rockwood was their Bann and a man of duty. Unlike many other nobles Harry and Daphne have met in their lives Thomas Rockwood was someone who took his duties to his vassals as serious as he did his duties to the crown and his own ledge lord. He was, like many people in the Gwaren Teyrnir of a good high with wide shoulders and a muscular build honed over years of working on his own fields and keeping himself in shape through his sword training. All in all he was a pleasant man who knew when he could relax, himself as with his subordinates, as well as when protocol and discipline was to be enforced.

"Harry, how are you and your beautiful wife? I hope it is not inconvenient but may we impose on your hospitality? One of my traveling companions has fallen ill." came the deep baritone of Bann Rockwood's voice.

"Not a problem my lord," Harry said and had already moved next to the other person to take a look.

As he studied the feverish face of a woman he gave only a short glance and nod to the rider in front of her.

"Looking at her I can already tell she has to stay a day or two, maybe more. One moment," carefully he pulled the woman from the horse and carried her bride style to the house, "I will bring her inside so my wife can take care of her, in the meantime you could bring the horses into the barn on the left my lord. I will come back as soon as possible."

With that Harry walked with a fast pace to the house leaving one bemused Bann and his scowling companion behind.

"What an interesting fellow." the other man said, dismounting from his horse and led it to the said barn.

"Harry is one of my best men I have as freeholders. His farm produces in comparison more than triple the amount of the next most successful farm with the same size." Bann Rockwood said and followed with the other two horses his companion.

Daphne already expected him at the front door and led him with the woman in his arms through the house into a bathing room.

"While I take care of her can you please put some fires on to heat the water and floor? I would hazard a guess that those two men need a bath as well." she said to Harry and started stripping the woman.

While Harry went back to his guests Daphne was already taking off parts of the woman's armor. When she was about to take of the breast plate the woman started to squirm and moan.

"What the …" she didn't come any further and before the woman could fully open her eyes and register her surroundings she drifted off to sleep again.

After the sleep spell took hold Daphne casted another spell to keep the woman asleep for the next twelve hours at the least. Looking down on all those straps and whatnot Daphne got frustrated.

"Fuck this!" she said and pulled out her wand.

Normally you would think after a certain time of magic use you would automatically pick up wandless magic on the way and do your magic that way. The thing is with their form of magic as much as a wand is a magical focus and makes is actual easier to access your magic in the end it puts a limit to the amount of magic you can use at any one moment. To circumvent that the magic user can use a staff, this allows you to use up to a really gigantic amount of magic, on the down side you will unable use that magic with good precision, you will never reach the precision you have with a wand.

The same goes for wandless magic. You can use a huge amount but on the other hand will lose a good portion of the precision you have with a wand. So with her wand in her hand Daphne, with three small moves and a thought command, stripped the woman of all her clothes, which neatly folded appeared on a chair next to the door. The armor appeared on an armor stand in one of the guest rooms. As the woman was levitated above ground, the cold floor is not good for an ill feeling person Daphne pointed the tip of the wand at the small iron bathtube and filled it with a stream of water.

Yet another flick with the wand heated the water up to a comfortable temperature. While Daphne was washing and taking care of the unnamed female night Harry made his way out of the house and to the barn. Looking inside the barn he saw the Bann and his friend actual putting the horses into three empty horse boxes at the one end of the building.

"Ah Harry, let me introduce you to this kind sir. Harry Green meet Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir, my Lordship meet Harry Green, owner of this wonderful place." the way Bann Rockwood smiled set Harry somewhat on edge.

Harry looked closer at the Teyrn who was more interested in looking around and scrutinizing the barn "My Lordship, it's an honor to meet you."

Harry didn't quite manage to keep the sarcasm out of his voice which Rockwood with his widening grin definitely picked up. The Teyrn just gave him a scowling look and grunt.

"Interesting way of building a barn, how do you keep it inside warm enough against the cold winter?" Loghain asked and peered at the six horse boxes and the stone floor they were built on.

"I'm not sure what you mean?" Harry was rather confused.

The thing is horses, cattle and other farm animals which usually live outside get at the start of winter thick cloaks of fur. That applied most certainly to Ferelden Frostback Mountain Horses, a Ferelden horse breed which are especially attuned to the Ferelden harsh winters. And because Harry's and Daphne's horses were from that breed Harry wasn't sure what Loghain meant.

"Harry has two Ferelden Frostback Mountain Horses your Lordship, he doesn't need much more than that. What the Teyrn wants to know if you can keep horses in your stable alive in winter which are not Ferelden horses? Our horses are Antivian Warmbloods." Bann Rockwood said and looked at Harry.

"Ah … okay. One moment please … or two." Harry went to a wooden box next to one of the horse boxes.

Opening the box Harry pulled three horse rugs out and went into the boxes of the Antivian Warmbloods and placed the rugs on the horses. Leaving the barn he turned around the corner and went down the building to the end which was the outside wall of the part where the horse boxes were. Bann Rockwood and Teyrn Loghain followed curiously and found around the corner a flight of stairs going down the backside of the barn.

At the end of the stairs was a door standing wide open. Stepping through the door they found themselves inside a large room with a low ceiling. The ceiling was mostly compromised out of wooden beams going all ten meters from one side to the other. Interesting enough the whole room seemed to take the same space as all six horse boxes above in the barn plus the small corridor between them. In the middle of the room there seemed to be a single pillar made out of bricks and Harry was kneeling in front of it.

Moving closer Bann Blackwood and Teyrn Mac Tir saw that Harry was in fact kneeling in front of an opening in the pillar and that the pillar was hollow inside. With a strike-alight and flint Harry tried to make a fire from the looks of it and succeeded at the third strike. When the dry leaves burned away they lit up several sticks of wood which themselves set some blocks of charcoal alight. Taking a shovel Harry gave the growing fire some good amounts of charcoal from a pile on the side of the room.

Closing the metal door before the whole in brick pillar Harry stood up and made his way out of the room.

"What does that going to do?" Loghain asked as he curiously looked at the pillar and from there to the ceiling where the pillar vanished in a gap between the beams.

"The fire inside the pillar heats up the air and that hot air travels up into a small free space between two floors where the top floor is the floor the horse boxes were built upon. I can show you how that look like if you want follow me?" with that he went out of the room, the two nobles following him and closing the door.

Going to the other barn Harry pulled out a handcart and filled it with two sacks of charcoal, one sack of dried leaves, grass and thinks like that and some small wood billets. With the handcart he went to the backside on the right hand side of the main house, the two nobles followed behind. Arriving there Loghain and Thomas saw two interesting things. The first thing was some kind of metal container connected with two metal tubes with the house, roughly four meters high, two meters width and five meters long. The container sat on a base of bricks half a meter high with the same width and length.

This construct, like the pillar underneath the barn with the horse boxes had a small metal door as well. The second interesting thing was the lowered ground at the back wall of the building. There innocently sitting were two width metal doors. Not only did Harry open these two but also the one underneath the metal container. While Harry placed some of the smaller logs in his cart, a good amount of charcoal and some of the dried grass and whatnot into the base beneath the metal container Loghain and Thomas looked inside the other two openings beneath the house.

What they saw was the underside of the floor inside the house and dozens of flagstones working as pillars to support said floor. The space between the underside of the house floor and the floor those flagstones lay on was around ten inches high the only exceptions were two small pits filled with some ashes directly past the metal doors. Finished at the large metal container repeated what he did there with the rest of wood, charcoal and dried stuff at the two small pits.

"What are you seeing here my Lords, is the bottom side of the bath. Just like what I did beneath the horse boxes these two fires will heat up the air inside that free space. Through this the stone floor will heat up as well which consist of a special stone able to hold the warmth. Damn useful in times of winter if I say so myself. The metal container behind me is actual a water basin and the fire beneath it will heat the water enough up for a nice bath. The on tube does transport the water directly into the bath and the other leads rain water from the roof into the basin. So, how about a bath my Lords?" Harry said and closed the metal doors.

Bann Thomas Rockwood was rather giddy. He himself had already seen what Harry had built here and had even paid the young man to build something similar for him. Even if his own bath was way more fanciful than Harry's, thanks to the demands of his wife, he still very much liked Harry's down to earth version. Teyrin Loghain Mac Tir was rather impressed. At first he had feared the young man had built something fancy orelsian for his home but he was fairly fast disabused of that line of thought. If anything the construct reminded him of dwarven engineering.

In the end all three men took a nice long bath while Daphne, after making sure the female knight was cared for, made for all of them a good strong meal. The two nobles stayed for around the next five days because Ser Cauthrien, the name of the female knight, came down with a heavy cold and way to high temperature. The Bann and Teyrn didn't consider themselves too good in helping around the farm. It was even somewhat hectic but nonetheless relaxing time with their guests.

**=====||=(°.°)=||=====**

**Brecilian Passage, Green Farmstead, 15****th**** of Drakonis in 9:29 Dragon**

Humming a soft tune Daphne was walking one last time through their farmstead, their home for nearly the last ten years. The deal with Bann Thomas Rockwood had been a ten years contract for their plot of land with the option of further negotiations after nine years for a live long or similar contract. In the end Daphne and Harry had declined to extend their contract or negotiate a new one. Bann Rockwood been rather disappointed but in the end relented.

Looking into the barn Harry normally stored the sacks of charcoal, wheat, logs of ironbark and many other things she only found it empty inside, just like the other barn. Over the last seven days both had been thoroughly going through anything they owned and magically packing it away with the help of bottomless trunks, which funny enough had an actual limit. Even Harry's smithy and Daphne's garden had been cleaned out, the only testimonial left were marks on the ground left by smelter and anvil as well those were once stood Daphne's two greenhouses.

Smiling softly Daphne looked at one of the fields, remembering a time when she and Harry armed with a scythe brought in their harvest. It had been most amusing the one time when Harry didn't find any motivation to do and tried to harvest the crop with cutting curses. It didn't end too well with their harvest that year. Now the only thing growing on the fields was lush green grass.

Looking one last time around she went to their two horses which were lazily walking around in the pleasant afternoon sun. Pulling out her wand she first turned the right than the left horse into a pebble, summoned the two pebbles and put them securely into one of her breast pockets. Walking back into the house she looked around and slowly walking from room to room remembering the happy times they had here. The one time both of them cuddle on fur coat in front of the fire place, the one time a shelf crashed on him as he tried to fix it to the wall or the one time were she felt rather naughty and chained her loveable husband naked to the wall while she only wore a leather corset, knee-length leather boots and had a crop in her hands.

At the last thought a rather pleasant shudder went down her spine "Ah, good memories."

"What are good memories dear?" Harry asked looking up from his work.

Daphne slightly blushed, she hadn't intended to say that out loud, but whatever "The time I had chained you to the bedroom wall and had my wicked way with you my love."

Harry gave Daphne a smile full of love with a promise in his eyes to pay her back, Daphne absolutely approved that one.

Looking at Harry kneeling in front of ritual circle she eyed his dark grey and brown medium scale armor made out of red steel, the six silverite waraxes, a bucket helmet - in style similar to Templar helmets - made out of silverite and a backpack. Anything but the armor, which he was currently wearing was neatly lay next to the backpack near the wall. Daphne herself wore her Dread Huntress armor, a light armor set she had learned to craft in a previous live, with extra mesh armor underneath it.

Her backpack attached with her compound bow, quiver full of arrows and silverite shortsword lay next to Harry's, her obsidian black magic staff stood next to the backpacks against the wall.

"So, everything ready?" Daphne asked and looked the ritual circle over, noticing the many rune scripts and rune arrays.

"Yes, that should work." Harry said and stood up.

As they put on the rest of their stuff Daphne mused about what they were to attempt. For whatever reason their ability to apparate would not work for anything that is not within their field of vision, apparating around on the field were they could see the spot they would later appear was not a problem. The problems however were pulling an image from your memory and use that as your destination. The magic somehow just stops short of connecting. It was like there was some kind of blanked which disrupts any attempt at connecting the image with your magic, very strange.

So together they went through the arithmancy of apparition trying to find the problem or a way to work around. Their solution in finding a way around the problem was creating a ritual circle which would help them finding the actual problem by trying to force the apparition. This can of course blow up in their faces, no question, however ever other test just indicate that it either will happen or not.

Now fully prepared made a simple wave with his hand and spoke the command fraise, anxious of what was to come. For Daphne who just went along with Harry in a kind of side by side apparition it didn't feel like anything she had felt in context to apparition before. There was no feeling of being pulled or squeezed throw a tube, she simply stopped existing in one place and started existing in another very dark place.

For Harry however the situation was very much different. The first thing that started to feel strange was when the ritual circle started pumping huge amounts of magic into his system. It was like forcing water into an indestructible balloon which was already half full and the balloon expanded more and more. In the meantime the magic was pumped into his system it also tried to initiate the apparition which was time and time again stopped at that strange blanket, it just didn't want to give in.

And just before the amount of magic in his body became unbearable something flipped the switch. It was like just one moment the blanket was there, invincible and indestructible the very next it wasn't simply there anymore. Harry's body now completely overcome by magic just threw itself into the fabric of reality constant on the lookout for a proper destination. The destination Harry had already in his mind was first ignored and then shredded to bits and pieces.

Changing direction to one of two possible destinations Harry came to a crashing halt and even staggered for a moment to gather his bearings. That proved however to be futile because there was still a freaking huge amount of magic running through his system, urging to him to do something and then travel to that other place, wherever that was.

The only thing Daphne could recognize was a small fire somewhere in the far distance and two torches burning on the ground some dozen meter away. Thinking nothing of it she conjured up a hover ball of light which should be able to shed some light into the darkness, and shed some light it did. A giant cave was suddenly bathed in cold light, showing many things Daphne definitely didn't want to see. And most important she didn't want to see that huge being no freaking thirty meters away.

"Fuck," definitely described their situation.

Harry still trying to get his bearings and magic under control looked up from his kneeling spot and right into an insane looking white eye. That eye was enclosed by a black skull dotted with red glowing points, the skulls had two sharp dagger even short sword sized rows of teeth and the skull was attached to a very long neck connecting it to a massive body.

Harry could feel the dark and corrupted magic radiate from that mighty dragon in waves, he could taste it in the air and just like Daphne he was instantly aware what kind of degenerated and insane creature was looking down on them. Lucky for them the dragon was as confused about their arrival as they were, probably even more so. Harry finally gave into the magic singing in his ears and did the first thing, the first bit of magic which came to his mind. Ironically he fired of the first spell he not only ever in living memory had witnessed but also experienced. Pointing two fingers right at the dragon Harry gave words to his thoughts and even something more.

"Avada Kedavra" and the cave was bathed in in a deep green light.

****=====||=(°.°)=||=====****

****Thanks to the reviewers: banesith777, Guest, Shadowsmage, Naruto-Uzu-Uchiha, Vi38, Vatsayayana69, ww1990ww, Le Diable Blanc2, FateBurn, Kaioo, Dovakiin1503, bandgsecurtiyaw, , bullseye89****


End file.
